On Thu, 3 May 2001 21:34:30 -0700 (PDT), Chuck Grimes asked: > >> Microsoft Is Set to Be Top Foe of Free Code, By JOHN MARKOFF >> >> SAN FRANCISCO, May 2 - Microsoft is preparing a broad campaign >> countering the movement to give away and share software code, >> arguing that it potentially undermines the intellectual property >> of countries and companies. At the same time, the company is >> acknowledging that it is feeling pressure from the freely shared >> alternatives to its commercial software.... > > Isn't MS still under court order to split up, or have they managed > to weasel out of it? (i didn't see anyone answer this query.) microsoft is currently appealing judge jackson's verdict, and the last indication from the appealate court is that the government has suffered a second setback in its antitrust case when it questioned jackson's order for the breakup. (it also took jackson to task for his outta court comments.) also, the DoJ attorney responsible for arguing this case before the dc court of appeals is unconfirmed by the senate (olsen has a hold placed on him, iirc), so the case is pretty much up in the air atm. On Fri, 4 May 2001 10:53:28 -0400 (EDT), Marco Anglesio asked: > >> M$ is always going to be around for the average consumer who >> doesn't want to spend the time or effort to run a more complex >> operating system. > > I do wonder about that - I wonder how much MSFT cash is coming out > of the consumer market, and how much is out of selling development > tools, professional tools like MS Project (which is damn useful, > IMHO), databases and server software, education and consulting. well, an overwhelming majority of microsoft's profits come from selling its operating system. i don't remember the figure off the top of my head, but for some reason the figure 80% comes to mind. it is public information, though. as for selling development tools, most developers (at least individual developers) don't buy them unless there is no other choice. if you are gonna beta test for a huge company, you may as well get the software that you are testing for free, and ms's tools are no better than beta products. finally, one should always consider the *cost* of using microsoft products in that they literally go out of their way to enslave you to their systems. because they do not share key elements of their api, outside developers are always at the mercy of the flaws or gateways (sometimes intentional hurdles) that microsoft puts into its operating systems (this is a huge complaint among gamer developers). when i first stepped into this industry, i wrote a fractal compression scheme that microsoft decided to use in some of its cd-roms. when they bought the company (and had the source code), they improved the speed and compression ability of the scheme merely by integrating certain things into the api and removing some of the blocks microsoft sets up. outside developers will always face this issue, and consumers will always lose because of it... And on Fri, 04 May 2001 20:55:36 -0400, "W. Kiernan" wrote: > >> A progressive person has much better things to do with his/her >> time... > > Yeah but Christ the latest MS stuff (I speak of the Win95/98/ME > series, not NT/2000, which is actually pretty decent to use) > absolutely, recklessly sucks, sucks sucks sucks, sucks worse and > worse with each new iteration, and MS themselves openly admits that > their next generation, XP, by their deliberate intent is gonna suck > worse than any previous operating system ever sucked ever! and *but:* a.) most users don't know any better. they don't know that *nix is better, more stable and much more likely to be secure at its default install, that proggies are free or that they have a *choice.* as much attention as linux has gotten over the last few years, this ignorance still persists. b.) one of the key costs of being stuck with a microsoft system is that the system is designed to make you think *you* fucked up when it has an error. microsoft, you will note, is never to blame for the error, it is the *user's* fault. and people accept that. this creates an invisible psychological dependence on microsoft -- created *by* microsoft -- that *it* knows what is good for you, what you are allowed to do, what you *want* to do. i can't tell you how many times i have seen users react in horror when their computer freezes up, and the first thing out of their mouth was, 'what did *i* do?' invariably, the truth is nothing, the computer just couldn't complete the task assigned. but microsoft not only encourages, but it profits from, this dependency. it won't shock matt to learn that i happen to be on the hactivist list, which was a great source of information before the wto protests in seattle. there was some ooh and ahhing about independent media coverage after it was all over, and i asked someone how they could be against the wto while for (using) microsoft products. they didn't quite see the hypocrisy there... > If you were an anarchist I'd offer to postal-mail you a bootleg - > solidarity, right on! but you're above all that, I know... well, as an aside, kel tells me i don't qualify as an anarchist, but the nice boys at the fbi took my copy of nt4.0 and i have suffered without since, so if you are really in a giving mood i will gladly send you my mail addie offlist!!!! ac ''' (0 0) ----oOO----(_)---------- | the geek shall | | inherit the earth | -----------------oOO---- |__|__| || || ooO Ooo ------------------------------------------------------------ FREE EMAIL from AUSI at http://ausi.com