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I had a great rant going in the car on the way home from work the other day. Then I calmed down but the after taste is still with me.

I started an ADAM server setup on friday. Loaded it up on a VMware ESX (this is way cool schite - snap shotted the deal when I got it done). The ADAM server was a long command line drawn out thing but ended nicely. I only had to delete the instance once. I kicked myself in the butt hard when I realized I misspelled the instance partition. Anyways, I am loading a GuardianEdge platform to deploy a full hard disc encryption schema deployed via Group Policy. We finally pulled the trigger and I got 50 licenses to encrypt a store of laptops.

I was feelin' kinda good as I started the platform business end. I had to download gpmc. It is beyond me why they don't include this with a Server 2003 install but no worries I've done it before and it won't be the last. I hit the MS site and planted it on the desktop. Cool. The next thing I know they are rendering a transparent window on top of the "Thank You for using MS" page and it wants to know if I want to download Silverlight. I'm thinking at what point did MS think that Silverlight compliments gpmc? I would let it roll off but every time I turn around these days it's Silverlight, Silverlight, Silverlight. If I need Silverlight I know where to get it but every time I touch MS they are shoving it down the throat.

It reminds me of the drive up at Mickie D's. I want a cheese burger and a coke. Then I have to turn down the "Do you want fries with that?" question which invariably leads to "Then you certainly want a pie?". You know what, if I wanted all those calories I would have frickin' ordered them. I have but one wish now. I want MS to add a button to the response screen of "Would you like Silverlight?" I want a button I can press that says "Blow me!".

David

i have yet to come to a site that requires silverlight.

Yeah. I guess that's part of my frustration with MS's constant offering of Silverlight. I realize that they are looking to take a share of market and develop a product but seriously the ONLY time I have used it is when I went to an MS instructional link and watched a Silverlight prepared presentation. It ran great and had a nice feel but then so does Flash. Why pour MS resources (as a company) into reinventing something that everyone uses and is already market saturated.

David

Never used Silverlight. I was offered it a few times, but I have become rather hesitant to download any more plugins.