I couldnt have said it better myself.


Why does Microsoft continue to hurt the people it needs? They make the OS, yet they punish the developers who write software for their platform (Netscape, Corel, etc...). Then, competition comes along, so instead of just trying to be better they try to *legally attack* the innocent methods of said competitor (attacking open source???). Why do we put up with this crap? I used to be a BeOS user but now I use XP only because BeOS is dead. But, I am seriously considering a move to Linux now--which I use at work--just because I'm tired of Microsoft and their greed. Anyone who supports Microsoft should know that Microsoft is not supporting them.

10-4 to that.

M$ is evil.

MS has a market share that would any other producer in any line of trade cream their pants. They're in the position to set the rules. And they do.

Why are people surprised? This is how it works.

So true, sticky! IBM did exectly the same type of thing in the 70's when they owned he computer market. They also lost an anti-trust suit. It hasn't changed the way they do business at all.

Hell, Sun and Apple treat their customers far worse than Microsoft treats theirs and people go running back for more from them! Maybe that's the secret, abuse your customers and they'll continue to buy from you!

I like MS and their products, they are a joy to work with at home and at work, I rarley see any problems with them and when I do they are almost always solvable.

I would not want to support Linux in my job, I have no interest in it at all.

Nothing wrong with profits. Profits attract new comers to compete. Problem here is, nobody will take on the Giant. Linux will not take over the desktop until serious money gets behind development efforts to support as much or more hardware than MS's already

MS does not punish devleopers. I can say that because of MS, I have had excellent employment for the past 15 yrs. And they give me free tools to develop with as well as lots of free support in the form of updates, SDK's, and such.

They are conducting business wisely. They are to be commended and admired. I wish I could start and run a company as successful as they are.... and so does Netscrape, IBM, Sun, etc... the list goes on......

I would not recommend Linux on a home machine as it would not work properly with all the programs you want to use on it.

Linux's only real use (currently and for quite a while yet) is as a Server, it isn't really a desktop OS.

Excellently stated, Manny!

I can also say that, were it not for Microsoft, I would most probably not be in the I.T. field and have a career and job that I really enjoy!

That goes for a lot of us, we would be supporting archaic OS's and incompatible software / network setups probably.

I have to agree with the pro-MS pros.
Without MS we would still be supporting 1000's of proprietary software, and hardware solutions. (as if we still don't see enough of these! )
by dominating PC standards development MS has allowed/controlled the advent of a much more consistant, more usable platform.
While Linux has made great strides forward, I also see it following the path of UNIX before it, in order for a company to provide dedciated, bulletproof support, you will see more and more proprietary flavors and fragmention. Support costs will force major increases in product price, and pretty soon you won't think MS is so expensive.
Linux has great potential, but as a consultant, I don't feel ready to suggest it be deployed as the O/S of choice in a 25 unit company, let alone on a 500-1000 unit mission critical network.