What shall we do with the Microsoft.....

Sun, 2 Apr 2000 13:16:00 -0700 (PDT)

Each OS does have its spot. Unfortunately for Redmond,
the win line up is best suited for a case study on how
to create a cool looking car that stalls every few
miles, and needs an overhaul every year or so. And
don't put that custom stereo in it-- the electical
system would overload! :)

--- Ken Bowley <johann@trod.org> wrote:
> hahaha... loved the April Fools message there!
> 
> I especially liked the part where "Microsoft....gave
> the public what it
> needed--a GUI to run on an IBM-compatible machine." 
> I only wish the
> government had stepped is sooner and stopped them
> from killing off the
> other GUI's that came out before theirs.
> 
> On Sat, 1 Apr 2000, Mark R. Myers wrote:
> 
> > Because then we wouldn't all be cheerleaders for
> Microsoft.
> > Unlike some, I don't see Microsoft as the "evil
> empire."
> > I see Bill Gates as probably one of Harvard
> Business School's brightest
> > dropouts.
> > Let us face it, in the early days of Micorsoft, he
> pulled some pretty good
> > moves, capitalized on others mistakes (IBM), and
> gave the public what it
> > needed--a GUI to run on an IBM-compatible machine.
> > I remember the early days (even before DOS became
> synonymous with just one
> > OS, rather than being short of the Disk Operating
> System). My first IBM
> > compatible PC was a Zenith EZ-PC with 16 shades of
> gray, CGA-compatible
> > monitor. The biggest hard drive you could get in a
> computer was 20MB, and
> > they were HUGE (those good old, MFM drives).
> > The EZ had 2 720KB 3.5" floppy drives. You would
> have to put the DOS boot
> > disk in one, and your program in the other. Q&A
> Write (a good word processor
> > at the time), fit easily onto 1 720K floppy, with
> a little room to spare.
> > Then I upgraded to Professional Write and had to
> use both floppy drives for
> > the one program.
> > The EZ came with 512KB of RAM, and right away I
> bought the only expansion
> > possible for it. That big box on the back gave it
> 640KB total RAM, a 1200
> > baud modem, and a serial port.
> > This was 1988 (so long ago). My wife would not
> TOUCH the thing. She could
> > not understand DOS, or swapping floppies, or
> anything like that. Once I set
> > Q&A up for her because she needed to write a
> paper.
> > Now, thanks to Win3.1, & Win95, and computers as a
> whole getting better, she
> > now teaches basic computing and software packages
> at our company (Win95,
> > SAP, Siebel, Lotus Notes (ugh), Office97). Why did
> she learn it? Because it
> > was graphical and it made sense to her.
> > There were 100s of millions of people like her.
> > Because these people started buying computers
> because computers became
> > easier, prices started to drop dramatically.
> > So, in a way, we can thank Bill Gates. Why?
> Partially because of his
> > products, the price of PCs has plummeted.
> > I know that if life would have been different, and
> any one of us would have
> > grown up to be Bill Gates, we wouldn't trade
> places with any one of us, even
> > for a second.
> > Do I like Microsoft business practices? No. Do I
> like some of their
> > products? Yes.
> > IMHO, I think what should be done is that MS's OS
> division should be
> > separated from the rest of the company. The OS
> division should openly share
> > any new API's or innovations in both current and
> upcoming OSes with other
> > vendors--whether they be Microsoft Software
> Division, IBM-Lotus, Corel,
> > Caldera, whoever. I think that would be fair. That
> would more level the
> > playing field. Then a small company would have the
> same knowledge of the
> > API's and the OS as Microsoft Software Division
> would. Whether they take
> > advantage of that knowledge, is up to them.
> > That is what I think should be done with
> Microsoft. And, BTW, I corrected
> > the spelling in the subject line.
> > Mark
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> >
>
[mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On
> Behalf Of
> > jiva@devware.com
> > Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2000 3:58 AM
> > To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > Subject: Re: What shell we do with the
> Microsoft.....
> > 
> > 
> > Why don't you guys take this conversation to a
> Microsoft oriented
> > mailing list?
> > 
> > On Fri, Mar 31, 2000 at 02:44:11PM -0700, Carl
> Parrish wrote:
> > > I believe that according to the anti-trust laws.
> *Being* a monopoly in an
> > > open market *is* against the law. (course I
> could be wrong. Memory of my
> > > history class is foggy at best)
> > >
> > > Carl Parrish
> > > Webmaster
> > > ComputerPREP.com
> > >
> > >
> > > From:
> plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > >
>
[mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On
> Behalf Of Jim W
> > > Sent: Friday, March 31, 2000 2:19 PM
> > > To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > > Subject: Re: What shell we do with the
> Microsoft.....
> > >
> > >
> > > Not quite, Carl.  The judge has decreed that M$
> is a monopoly.  The
> > decision
> > > about whether they violated any law is still
> pending.  I agree that the
> > > judge's decree seems to indicate that he
> believes that there were laws
> > > broken, but until he states that in public,
> under the U.S. constitution,
> > M$
> > > is still innocent.
> > >
> > > Jim
> > >
> > > the future is now
> > >
> > > From: Carl Parrish <cparrish@computerprep.com>
> > > To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > > <plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us>
> > > Date: Friday, March 31, 2000 2:13 PM
> > > Subject: RE: What shell we do with the
> Microsoft.....
> > >
> > >
> > > >
> > > >The courts seems to disagree with you. They've
> already judged that M$ did
> > > >infact break the law.
> > > >
> > > >Carl Parrish
> > > >Webmaster
> > > >ComputerPREP.com
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >From:
> plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > >
>
>[mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On
> Behalf Of Joseph
> > > >T. Tannenbaum
> > > >Sent: Friday, March 31, 2000 12:48 PM
> > > >To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > > >Subject: RE: What shell we do with the
> Microsoft.....
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >They didn't "break the law", they just were not
> nice.
> > > >
> > > >Joe
> > > >
> > > >> From:
> plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > > >>
>
[mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On
> Behalf Of Kevin
> > > >> O'Connor
> > > >> Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 9:21 PM
> > > >> To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > > >> Subject: Re: What shell we do with the
> Microsoft.....
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> The buying public doesn't 'decide' ... They
> follow like lemmings.
> > > >>
> 
=== message truncated ===

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