OT - Re: Microsoft Hatred FAQ

[Tim Daneliuk]

David Blomstrom wrote:

> "Everytime someone compares MS's behavior with some
> less controversial criminal behavior, you act like
> they
> accused MS of holding people up at gunpoint."
> 
> Screwing literally millions of consumers and taxpayers
> and holding entire schools hostage is far worse than
> holding up an individual at gunpoint. The name
> Microsoft is virtually synonymous with crime, even if
> many people are too stupid to recognize it as crime -
> or the courts are too corrupt or inefficient to
> convict Bill Gates for many of his crimes.

A) I don't much care if people wander off topic from time to time -
    that's what filters are for.  But as a matter of general courtesy
    is it too much to ask that the subject line be so marked?

B) Rhetoric is not Reality.  "Crime" has a very specific definition.
    It always has one or more of Fraud, Force, or Threat.  No such
    case against Microsoft has ever been levied.  Just because *you*
    don't like market outcomes doesn't make it a "crime".
    Here is some *thoughtful* counterpoint (instead of the ignorant
    foaming that has characterized this thread):

    http://www.cato.org//pubs/pas/pa352.pdf
    http://reason.com/0111/fe.dk.antitrusts.shtml
    http://www.cato.org//pubs/pas/pa-405es.html

C) Hate Microsoft all you want.  But those of us old enough to have
    actually done this for than 10 minutes recall the days where every single
    hardware vendor was also a unique software and systems vendor.
    Absent a Microsoft/Intel-style de facto standard, you'd never have
    seen the ascent of Linux or Open Source as it exists today.  Drivers
    are painful to write, so oddball or vendor-specific systems don't
    get them very rapidly.  Microsoft/Intel commoditized the space whether
    you like it or not.  They (perhaps unintentionally) created the
    computer equivalent of "standard connectors" as found in audio systems.

D) Your ranting is puerile.  If you are going to waste bandwidth on
     OT matters, at least make it intelligent and/or interesting.

E) I prefer Unix and its variants.  However, I (and you) are direct
    beneficiaries of Microsoft's success.

F) There are *more* choices than ever today for both systems and applications
    software.  Stop foaming, and go do something useful with them ...



No Cheers,
-- 
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Tim Daneliuk     tundra at tundraware.com
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