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Microsoft Du Jour - Talks, Upgrades, Salaries
Jeff writes: "CNN is reporting 'In a dramatic move, the new judge in the Microsoft case Friday ordered the government and the software maker into five weeks of intensive settlement talks, until Nov. 2.'" Other MS submissions coming in today: USAToday discovers the new upgrade scheme, designed to milk every last cent out of those who've locked themselves into Windows; tech-report.com goes a bit more in depth on the same subject; ZDNet hoists the black flag; MS discusses its plans to control how you compute (by the way, the license agreement for Windows Media Player now allows Microsoft to disable any software on your computer - you do read those license agreements, don't you?); Gates got $666,000 last year but won't have to apply for welfare just yet.
Look.. I'm not exactly a big supporter of Microsoft, but this brand a blatantly inflammatory rhetoric is just childish.
USAToday discovers the new upgrade scheme, designed to milk every last cent out of those who've locked themselves into Windows.
Translation: Microsoft will be charging for significant upgrades.
And why shouldn't they? They spend time and money creating the upgrades...aren't they justified in trying to recoup some or all of that cost, so they can continue to offer product upgrades in the future? Micosoft is a business, same as any other. They stay in business by making money. That doesn't make them evil. If you happen not to like how they go about doing things, then you use Linux, which many of us do..myself included. Its as simple as that. Theres no point in demonizing a company for doing the exact same thing YOU would be doing in their shoes.
MS discusses its plans to control how you compute (by the way, the license agreement for Windows Media Player now allows Microsoft to disable any software on your computer - you do read those license agreements, don't you?)
Translation: Microsoft wants users to have a solid, consistant computing platform, rather than a disorganized assembly of argumentative standards that disrupt, aggrevate and annoy most users.
Ugh..More fear-mongering. You'll notice it says "disable" and not "uninstall", by the way. Disabling other products is a common practice. RealPlayer, Netscape, IE, all engadge in this. So, of course they're trying to "control how you compute".. So are we. Thats the whole purpose of an operating system. Again, don't demonize another party for something you engadge in as well. Now, the next topic -- Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player is a Microsoft product, designed to work with other Microsoft products. That includes the underlying OS. If something gets in the way of its task, it has a right to remove that "thing" so it can perform correctly. After all, by choosing installing WMP, you're basically inferring that you want to use it, are you not? Why else would you want to install it, unless you wanted it to run? This is the whole point of an 'upgrade' in the first place. You are replacing something that either does not work (or doesnt work well enough) with something that does work. So what are you really complaining about here? Sensical, consistant design? Admittedly, its a heavy handed approach, but XP is an OS for beginners that dont want to worry about how things are internally. They just want them to work. Period. And is that so wrong? Isn't that what we all want for Linux, ultimately, as well?
Like I said.. I dont like Microsoft all that much either. But I know an unfair criticism when I see it. Laying that sort of fearmongering onto a captive audience several hundred thousand wide is not only childish but terribly irresponsible, IMHO.
Cheers,
Bowie J. Poag
HAAHAHAAHAHAHHAAHHAAHAHAHAHA
TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.