Microsoft has a history of overcharging its products...

[Deja Q]

Even in the days when it sold programming languages. Their BASIC would cost more than the hardware it ran on and was mediocre compared to competitor's products. Bloated and buggy were adequate adjectives as well. And they've never improved on their M.O..

If it hadn't been for their slimy deal with IBM (a big name at the time and if IBM sold used condoms with their name emblazoned on them, people would have bought them like rare exotic jewelry), Microsoft would have been history a long time ago. A pity. :spit:

They also have a history for being extremely paranoid about software piracy. Given how much they've always charged for their products, it's no wonder they're paranoid. Their products are overpriced when competitors give more for less money. MS succeeded in the industry only because of their deal with IBM and, later, restrictive and illegal marketing and contractual moves that the government never punished them properly for (they got caught in 1994 for forcing hardware makers to put their OS on every machint they sold, even if the machine wasn't do have their OS on it. That's called stealing and they hardly got a slap on the wrist for it. But by then it was too late.)

Microsoft's latest atrocity speaks for itself: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5103941.html


(snip...)
Jones said that while the market for tablet PCs remains small, software vendors will remain reluctant to develop applications specifically for the platform. "If the Tablet PC is to become a significant part of mainstream mobile computing, and we think it can be, Microsoft needs to help its partners invest, promote, develop and expand their offerings," he said.


Even the commentators see Microsoft's actions as unbridled selfish greed. (Microsoft is HOW affluent and they're still this greedy? Sheesh...)

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. People don't voluntarily pay when it's a monopoly

Look up the history of the Robber Barons. Learn from it.

[JailBush]

7. Uh, not so fast...

I suppose Capitalism 101 isn't a bad description, but it certainly isn't Good Business 101. After all, our "free choice" is heavily swayed by Microsoft's propaganda and strong-arm tactics. If you buy a computer from Dell, it probably has Windows loaded on it, which means you're going to get hooked on Internet Explorer, rather than Mozilla. If you attend third grade in a school district that Microsoft took over, you're probably going to be playing with Windows machines.

When I bought my first computer, I was clueless about politics and corporate corruption. I chose between a PC and a Mac, settling on a PC. Not until a few years ago did I become fully aware of the politics involved, after which I realized what an enormous impact politics has on my pocketbook.

If I had the money, I'd have three operating systems - Windows, Apple and Linux, but I'd work towards steering my visitors and clients away from Windows.

[onebigbadwulf]

2. Welcome to supply and demand

:thumbsup:

Edit: Forgot to mention that this is why people use Linux and Mozilla.

[JailBush]

3. It's amazingly how few political activists there are among

Microsoft's critics. Most Linus fans are just looking for a better operating system. I've corresponded with Linux groups across the U.S. in search of allies, and I'd say more than 90% ranged from as-apathetic-as-ordinary-Americans to downright hostile. (The head of one group who blasted me is a Republican!)

I hope I have better luck when I begin contacting open-source groups in other nations.

It was king of shocking to hear the news about RedHat and SuSe. Is this all part of a vast Microsoft conspiracy? If not, will Microsoft bail them out or convince George Bush, Inc. to assassinate their CEO's? And how will democracy survive if Microsoft acquires Google?

I hope China, Japan and South Korea get their Red Flag Linux project wrapped up soon. I suspect that could be Microsoft's biggest competitor in the near future.

[Angelus]

4. little does microsoft know

I get my software from "other means." wink wink ;) Can't prove anything.......

[Dirk39]

6. Mr. Gates model is the perfume industry...

he did admit it more than once. A few pennies of value, incredible investments in advertising and even more incredible profits.
That's all what MS is about.
I'm somehow glad, that we don't have to smell Windows, we just have to work with it and are mostly payed for doing this.
Marx had an incredible part in the "capital", where he tries to proove that the real innovators never get the money as a kind of internal law of capitalism.
Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[Catch22Dem]

8. I got Office 2003 for $20

:evilgrin: But I've been on an "open source" kick for months now.