Herbert Graf wrote:
> On Wed, 2008-01-09 at 16:47 +0000, Shawn Tan wrote:
>   
>>> BTW, I also do not understand why some Linux fans need to hate
>>> Bill Gates or Microsoft. I consider Windows XP as a very good OS
>>> and better than Linux in quite some aspects. And unlike quite some
>>> people here, I think Windows Vista is pretty good.
>>>       
>> They don't really hate the person/company per se. What they hate is the FUD 
>> attacks and lies that they tell, not to mention the "questionable" business 
>> practices.
>>     
>
> Absolutely. I don't hate Bill, in fact I really respect him. While many
> might not LIKE the way he made his money, the fact is he's made every
> cent himself. He has a VERY keen sense of the market, and does what's
> necessary to grow his company. I'm also incredibly impressed by how well
> he's been able to keep his private life out of the mainstream, for a man
> as known as Bill, most people barely know he's married.
>
> Microsoft the company is more a mixed bag for me. First off they DO have
> some good products. The problem is they have done things are are
> questionable, but you can't really blame the company for that, they're
> out to make money, and they will do anything they can get away with to
> accomplish this.
>
> What I hate is what we collectively have let Microsoft get away with. 
>
> Despite having products that have serious flaws, products that cost most
> of us alot of time and money fixing, we continue to buy these products. 
>
> We allow deals where until recently companies like Dell were pretty much
> forced to sell a copy of Windows with every machine sold. To this day,
> it is almost impossible to buy an assembled PC without Windows, this is
> unacceptable.
>
> I hate the fact that I've paid for windows licenses because there was no
> other option, licenses I didn't want, and have never used, yet I can't
> sell them because they are tied to the hardware.
>
> In the end I feel the blame is our own. Our society let Microsoft become
> the monopoly it is. Our society has allowed Microsoft to remain the
> monopoly it is.
>
> TTYL
>   
Well stated.

I neither hate him nor like him. He's a flim-flam artist, similar to PT 
Barnum in his day. In an earlier
time in America, Gates would have been tarred and feathered, but those 
enlightened days are long
gone.

--Bob A


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist