On 18 Sep, 21:33, "amicus_curious" <A...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> "The Ghost In The Machine" <ew...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in messagenews:6nk5s4-qos.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> >> IBM is like an elephant, and will never forget.
>
> > That sequence isn't quite complete, apparently, as it does
> > not mention the breakup/divorce/fallout of the OS/2 <->
> > Windows effort. This was sometime just before Win3.0
> > or Win3.1.
>
> IBM tried to proprietize the PC hardware with PS/2, MicroChannel, and OS/2,
> trying for a coup that would stop the march of the cloners. For all the
> whining about Microsoft, I think it would be a much sadder world if
> Microsoft had not held onto the rights for DOS and kept the cloners alive
> after IBM slammed the door on the open hardware architecture and tried to
> control the future. They failed because MS and Windows gave the world an
> out.
So you think MS held onto the right to license its OS to third parties
to "give the world an out"?
IBM's failure to insist on no third party licensing was a mistake on
IBM's fault, not a cunningly altruistic move by Microsoft. Gates & Co
saw their chance and grabbed it, which helped them achieve the near-
monopoly they currenty enjoy.
I'm not saying that if IBM had insisted on sole rights to MSDOS it
would have been a boon to Freedom - obviously only a loon would say
that. But to suggest that MS "gave the world an out" is disingenuous/
ludicrous/a fucking lie.
Sit, next you'll be suggesting that Microsoft's "interoperability"
deals with various chicken-livered Linux distros proves that MS is
committed to the spread of Free Software or some such horse skev.
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