____/ [H]omer on Friday 07 March 2008 09:24 : \____
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Microsoft won't die, but it's the next IBM (in a bad sense). Google
>> might be the next Microsoft and there's little or no reason to be a
>> fan of Google or Sony or IBM or Sun if you like Free software and
>> Linux. For the time being, however, they help in weakening the
>> multi-times convicted monopolist. And that's good for everyone.
>
> Every company has something to be ashamed of, but Microsoft's flagrant
> disregard for ethics is a towering monument to corruption.
>
> I've no doubt that those other companies you mention would be less good
> corporate citizens if Microsoft simply didn't exist, thus negating the
> need to take sides with the Free Software community against it, but
> Microsoft are perhaps a uniquely extreme example.
>
> It isn't just about the size of the company either, nor the depth of
> their corruption, it's mainly about their role as an operating system
> vendor that excludes competition. Without that exclusion, and with a
> fair and level playing-field, the market would be much more diverse and
> offer far more choice, but that choice would exist in a framework of
> standards compliance that ensures interoperability, rather than one
> which seeks exclusion and monopoly.
>
> And yes size is a factor too, since Apple does much of the same thing
> but on a much smaller scale, and so are less of a threat, but on the
> whole at least they are prepared to adopt industry standards, rather
> than reinvent them for devious purposes.
I beg to differ, with the exception of the last bit. Apple is very
con-standards in many ways, but I don't think they do this deliberately, as a
matter of strategy (c/f Halloween Documents).
> The end of Microsoft might not signal the end of corruption in the IT
> industry, but if it ever did happen, I know that I, and a lot of other
> people, would sleep easier at night. If ever there was truly such a
> thing as an "evil corporation" then Microsoft is it - without question.
Microsoft is a good thing because it's a treasure trove of endless corruption
that provides us with a good historical reference and a lesson for the future.
When Google stumbles people will say that "it pulls a Microsoft"... or "throws
like a Ballmer". Never again.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | X-No-Archive: No. Stand behind what you say
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
run-level 2 2008-01-24 14:06 last=
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