<< If it wasent for Microsoft we wouldent have jobs. We make a business off of Microsoft's blunders. Keeps us in business, so we sorta like Microsoft. When SP2 came out we had like 10 customers in a week because SP2 crashed machines. Yes that sucks. H2 do you think microsoft is the only company that does illegal things? I am not a moron but u have to respect Microsoft, they are a business. They make good business decicions. Mabey not in the past 5 years. Ya they do bad things, but so do 99% of other corporations. >>>
I've said the same thing many times, part ot if anyway, I like viruses, they keep my clients terrified, great for business. As to the rest, no, sorry, MS is not just like any other business, dream on. There are many car companies, many gas companies, etc. These businesses understand that they are in an environment that has competition. MS has never been able to grasp this simple concept, they want only one company running your computer, them. This is what makes them fundamentally different than other businesses, it's like it was years ago with IBM and ATT, Standard oil earlier in the united states, finally the state came in and said, no, you are a monopoly, you can't keep abusing your position, and forced breakups. MS avoided this possibility by making a huge campaign contribution to the Bush campaign, the penalty was gutted, they walked away. Not like a normal business at all, in any way. Standard profit margin of 30% year in and year out, 50 billion dollar cash resevoirs. No other business around can claim that type of performance, that's because they are a monopoly, not because they practice good business. That's why IBM, Sun, Apple, Novell etc are increasingly supporting Linux/Open source, they are fully aware of the problem, and are working hard to rectify what the state should have but didn't correct.
Don't believe the MS hype, MS doesn't provide jobs, Open source stuff does, locally. High skilled jobs too, not the cookie cutter junk you learn with MS, I've gone that route, it's one of the biggest regrets I have, wish I'd learned basic Unix instead of wasting my time with MS Windows, I'll rectify that this year, but Windows getting worse and worse.
By the way, what I despise is the fundamental programming philosophy that underlies not just MS products, but most commercial large scale apps, the direction this stuff is going in is getting more and more annoying, Norton AV slices out bigger chunks of possible configurations, user friendliness makes stuff less and less useable. Etc. It's a philosophy that strikes me as becoming dated though still very profitable, but other philosophies are more powerful, and are attracting the best and brightest, firefox, tbird, linux, etc, are just the beginning, that's why MS is beginning to stockpile patents, they know they can't win this one by fighting fair.