The last few days have been a ride for us, and we’re spending quite some time reading and replying to e-mails from our visitors. We started working on a FAQ today and will hopefully be adding it to the website in the week to come.

One kind of e-mail deserves some special attention though. Loads of people send us e-mails about Microsoft products (most of the time people are referring to malfunctioning operating systems or browsers), with a closing paragraph saying: “that’s why it’s so obvious Bill Gates would make a shitty president. We call it the “Windows-Gates-Transfer (WGT)”-syndrome and it appears to be a serious problem amongst the members of certain anti-Microsoft subcultures. They’re all very passionate about their arguments (that’s a good thing, by the way), but I can’t say I really see their point. Here’s a very nice example of WGT:

If the quality of code M$ produces is anything like the quality of leadership BG would show as a president, you’ll see the USA limp even further backwards in the global technology pact. Look at the amount of time and money M$ put into vista, and compare that to Linux. Every distribution of Linux beats Vista in efficiency, less cost to produce, etc. It’s basically a cheaper, technologically better product.

I honestly don’t get it. Yes, I admit: I’m a Firefox user. Yes, this website is hosted on a server running a Linux distribution and yes, I like the Google search engine. I’m not the only one in our collective either (yes, we even have a Linux user on our team). Where’s the relevance? Was Ronald Reagan a bad president because he played in shitty movies like Tropic Zone or Girls on Probation? That just doesn’t make sense. You don’t have to like the Microsoft Corporation or the Microsoft products support our ideas.

We’re trying to get Bill to run for president simply because we’d like to see someone with his profile in the top spot, not because his browser has the best features. On a final note, this e-mail from Sutter sums it up nicely:

I think this is a great idea, as do all I’ve spoken to. Many of us have our reservations regarding Windows and Microsoft products, but we can see clearly that Bill could very well do a damn good job as President of the US. Many of us (here in Melbourne) find it irritating that the USA has such an influence on other nations in the world (including our very own), we’d certainly like to see someone who can think get voted in.