32 replies to this topic

[Rhindle The Red]

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Originally posted by Ze_ro:
But I still find it strange that people have put up with so many bugs for so long... especially considering that people will purposely avoid certain brands of cars based on the company that makes them.

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It's probably the same reason people buy PlayStations despite the fact that they've almost always been a less powerful format. They want the most options.

There's no denying that if you choose to go with MacOS, Linux, etc. you are limited in the number of applications, games, etc. that you can use. Windows is the de facto standard for PCs. This makes people put up with bugs in order to use the most software.

And there is no company (including Atari) that hasn't done its share of "sleazy" things if the light of day were shone on them. And the Justice Department lawsuits are dubious at best. They complain of market domination and have AOL as a prosecution witness!

[Fretwobbler]

As Rhindle posted at same time as me and tripped the thread to two pages you may have missed my last post so if you missed it check it.

Thats the last i'm going to say in the defence of MS so I shall end on a lighter note...

..Ive only just started seeing your new Avitar and it looks cool!

I'm off to bed, See ya later

Adam

[slapdash]

Fretwobbler wrote:

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On the Microsoft front I just cannot understand why in USA, which is the most succesful capitilist nation on Earth, 99% of the people living there (and everywhere else in the world) hold a grudge against a company for being succesful.
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Anybody that hates Microsoft is either not educated enough about the subject, working for Netscape or just jumping on the bandwaggon.

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Bullshit. Hatred of Microsoft isn't because they're successful, it's because they got there by making shoddy (though amibitious) software, using unethical business practices (at times) to gain advantage over competitors, and then having the arrogance to say they know what's best for us. Take away the last point and I probably wouldn't quite hate them, though I still wouldn't be a fan.

The problem is, the Justice Department really seems to levied the wrong charges at MS. They set up a sloppy target for persecution, and it won't matter if they hit or not, MS will not have been punished for the things they've done unethically.

dwh wrote:

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The only thing microsoft did wrong was to steal the operating system(changing the prompt from a> to c>)Apple computer was worse,they stole everything Xerox Corp. had invented in Palo Alto.

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Actually, I don't know the whole story, but supposedly Apple DID pay Xerox PARC. Now, it might have been afterward, not before, but they did pay something for the privilege of having seen the demo. MS on the other hand just stole Apple's design without paying Apple OR Xerox. Who's the real crook there? The answer is either both, or just MS. Either way MS, is only as bas as -- and possibly worse than -- Apple.

[jahfish]

Russ my friend, you clear it up .... that's exactly what they did.

that's why i am a Mac fan since 1984.




strictly for apple fans

[Ze_ro]

By the way, most people don't know this except for some of the older folks who've used a Kaypro (or know what one is)... but MS-Dos is a total rip-off of an operating system called CP/M that was around since the 70's, and ran on a bunch of different machines with similar architectures.

I haven't actually used CP/M much (although I do have a copy for my C-128), but it's probably a better OS overall... MS-Dos was pretty much a quick hack job to get it out the door.

The point of this was dispel any myth that Microsoft has actually created anything new at all without copying something that was already there. (Hell, they claim to have invented optical mice... meanwhile the 15 year old Sun workstations at my university have 15 year old optical mice... (Granted, MS's are better... but they definitely did not invent them))

--Zero

[Fretwobbler]

Quote from Russ Perry Jnr -

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using unethical business practices (at times) to gain advantage over competitors

Name an IT company that hasn't. Including the perfect Apple, I could tell a few things about their business practices regarding distribution in the UK and there just as bad as Microsoft.

I wonder how much your judgement is affected by the media also.

Adam

[ 12-13-2001: Message edited by: Fretwobbler ]

[ 12-13-2001: Message edited by: Fretwobbler ]

[Fretwobbler]

Quote from Ze_ro -

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MS-Dos is a total rip-off of an operating system called CP/M that was around since the 70's

All software is derivative. If a developer for a game, application, OS or anything started from scratch there would be no new games, no new apps, no new OS's.

Compare IBM DOS v5 and DOS v6. THere the same except one says IBM when you ask it for the version and one says MS.

How many companies would have somehow got hold of source code of the 3D engine for Doom and turned it into a myriad of second rate wannabies? Do you think they all wrote it from scratch...come on, your not that naive surely?

This is true of all industries not just IT, or does everybody in America drive a model T Ford?

Adam

[ 12-13-2001: Message edited by: Fretwobbler ]

[slapdash]

Fretwobbler wrote:

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Name an IT company that hasn't [done unethical things].

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Besides the point. I'll take a company that does it occasionally over the one that does it all the time, or the one that does something slightly unethical over the one that does something greatly unethical. Am I choosing the lesser of two evils? Perhaps, but I AM choosing the better of them.

quote:

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Including the perfect Apple, I could tell a few things about their business practices regarding distribution in the UK and there just as bad as Microsoft.

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Feel free to give some examples.

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I wonder how much your judgement is affected by the media also.

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No more than yours? Besides, Apple can't afford to buy spin but MS can. Don't you think they bury stuff that Apple couldn't if they wanted to? That implies to me that we're either seeing the worst of both, and Microsoft is the worse of the two, or that MS can afford to hide more than Apple, they look worse despite how much is hidden, and therefore MS is by FAR the worse of the two. Either way, MS is a blight upon our society.

Well, maybe not QUITE that bad... Maybe.