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Gates Testifies in Antitrust Suit

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the man-takes-the-stand dept.

teamhasnoi writes "Bill Gates is testifying today in the Microsoft antitrust case. Here's the 5 page executive summary (pdf) and here's the 163-page full version (1.1 MB pdf). Bill waxes on about the early days, talks about .NET, xml, and why Microsoft should not be penalized for its role as 800 lb. Gorilla. (Developers, Developers, Developers)" Other readers point to the BBC story on Gates' testimony, as well as a similar one at Yahoo!.

3 of 455 comments (clear)

  1. What Microsoft Needs To Do..... by matth · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Greee.. I typed this all in and Slashdot died and Ie wouldn't go back and kept displaying a "Friendly Error" insteady of just a dialog box! AHHHHHHHHHH! *stifle the anger*

    Anway.. Microsoft needs to do what Linux has been doing for ages and what Macintosh is currentyl doing. Forget about upgrading like they are currently doing and do a re-write.. making sure everything is secure and works right!

    Sure they say windows 2000 isn't on MS-DOS but really?
    So we see:
    Starting Windows |||||||||||||
    Instead of:
    Staring MS-DOS......

    There's no difference.. and while the stabilility has gotten better... it's not good or near linux.

    Active Directories.. don't even talk to me about that! They are confusing and complex! Novell is so much easier to use. Goodness Bill! Just startover.. don't try to release a new O/S every year! Take 2 or 3 and let's make this thing good. We don't need to upgrade and for goodnessgracious Bill, dump the XP "simplification"

  2. The remedies suck by cygnusx · · Score: 3, Flamebait

    There was this good Register story a while ago where a Sun director talked about customers' expectations from a *software* vendor. The word `sedimentation' was mentioned. And that's precisely the problem: from MS to Redhat to Sun, everyone bundles, is forced to, or goes out of business because that's what the customer wants.

    But the people (or their backstage paymasters) focus on buzzwords like `bundling' and push for stupid remedies like ``releasing windows' source'' and all. Yeah right. Like that's gonna happen. The thing to do would have been fine MS (heavily -- they sure can afford it, with 36bn(!) in cash -- for restrictive OEM licenses, cause a world of hurt to their bottom line, and move on.

    But for MS' many (whiny) competitors, legal eagles are now substituting for credible tech competition and decent business plans. And so the lawsuit has become a hem-the-giant-in game, even as these very same whiners continue haemorrhaging money. These losers don't deserve any sympathy at all.

    1. Re:The remedies suck by caspper69 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Microsoft has lost the notion of working for the customers, which is why more and more people are turning away from Microsoft every day.

      You are a moron. MS spends more on R&D and trying to make computers do cool things that are genuinely useful than ANYONE. And more people BECOME MS customers every day than switch to OSS. Where's the OSS version of DirectX? If you even say OpenGL, I'm going to smack you. At this point in time (and wait till 9.0/9.1) there is no comparison.

      The real bomb is going to be dropped on all you zealots in about 1 year. You keep saying "If MS made a decent product, then it'd be ok." Well, :) let's just say they're going to release something that'll take you unshowered hippie geeks the next 10 years of basement time to duplicate.

      The way I see it, the computer industry is maturing (just like every other industry does), and the people that love it just can't handle it. I used to work in the automotive industry, and let me tell you, getting Ford or GM to buy your parts is WAAAAAY more difficult than breaking into the Windows software industry. Wanna talk about arcane agreements, massive IT system requirements, and incredibly overbearing customer demands. The Big 3 make MS look like the Children's Television Workshop. Really.

      Everything is relative. Ever tried to compete against Wal-Mart? How about against Kraft Macaroni & Cheese? Q-Tips? Doritos? Mountain Dew? Federal Express? Sometimes there "just is" an industry giant. Yeah, sometimes they use their clout unfairly. But don't think for a second that Dell, Gateway and Sony aren't better off because of Microsoft. If there were no MS, who knows... We'd all be using OS/2, and paying $300 per copy and another $100/year for support. Oh yeah, and it'd only run well on IBM PS/2 machines. And those cost $3,000 apiece. MS is "good enough." Just like a Camry is "good enough." Sure, a race car would be better, but not everyone can maintain a racecar (or even afford one).

      Not only that, but for every Linux zealot out there, there's another guy who uses "real" big iron, and looks at us desktop PC (l)users and laughs and says: "They're so stupid. They actually think their stuff is better." Well, it's no different. There's a place for everything.

      Just the facts man...