Monopoly or no, Microsoft beat them at their own game. Did MS abuse its monopoly? Yes, in many ways. Was IE objectively better than Netscape? Yes, eventually. Should IE have won over NS, yes, but because it was better, not because Microsoft cheats.
IE 1.0 and 2.0 were lame. IE 3.0 was catching up with NS 3.x. IE 4 exceeded Netscape, IMO, and NS 4.0 was a huge bloated mess, that was usable, but didn't add anything worth the bloat (again IMO). NS 6 might have been based on Mozilla, but they certainly didn't learn any lessons about bloat.
I'd use Mozilla on Windows, but the darn thing to too slow (it responds like it's swapping hundreds of megs to disk), so while it works great and has some features that are much better than IE, I'm still using IE.
I recently coined my own Microsoft-specific version of that law after reading some info about Office 11 being able to create documents that automatically download files off of the Internet when you open them.
Yep, if you have ever travelled across state lines, or telephoned across state lines or even imagined crossing state lines than _any_ possible infraction of the law you might commit is instantly a FEDERAL offense and can be dealt with by the Federal government. Hey, it's constitutional... which one are you going to follow, the interstate commerce clause twisted and tortured far beyond recognizability of its original intent and then taken to absurd extremes, or the plainly worded 10th amendment, which is almost universally ignored and violated by politicians of both major parties?
Well, I know the opposite isn't true, because my oldest son cried for about 6 months straight as a baby and he's very smart.
My second oldest could recite the Lord's Prayer and sing Twinkle, Twinkle before he was 2. He's incredibly smart and has an amazing memory, but doesn't interact well with his peers. It's nothing like autism, he just doesn't realize that most kids don't share his mostly obscure interests.
Well, then obviously you are not a no-nuke freak nor a Nader kook.
I didn't say opposing nukes makes you a freak, nor does supporting Nader make you a kook. I said that those freaks and kooks that do fit the description will jump on this as the new doom of the world.
Just wait until the no-nuke freaks, flat-earthers, Nader kooks and other Luddites get a whiff of how this technology works. They'll try to scare the public into keeping this from becoming a reality.
Of course we could really fry their minds by reminding them that the reason the earth is still hot inside is mostly because of radioactivity.
Still, I think ignorance could be a factor in the public perception of this product. Of course, I'll be first in line to buy one.
But don't you know... anything that COULD be used to circumvent copy protection is now illegal.
Please check your brain at a government approved collection center.
Federal agents will arrive shortly with flamethrowers, please provide them with access to all paper, pens and other writing materials. We don't want to burn down your house, but we will if we have to.
Also, recall that they sometimes pick up rocks from Mars on the Earth. Stuff gets spread among the planets due to comet hits, etc.. If there is life in the atmosphere of Venus, it could have come from Earth before Mankind was around.
So you are implying that bad laws are simply ignored rather than repealed? Gee, you sound like the NJ Supreme Court. Of course, you're probably right.
Unfortunately, I think there's going to be an increasing trend of differences between what's on the books and what is really enforced. Look at speed limits... thanks to that ludicrous Federal 55 MPH speed limit way back when, speed limits are almost universally ignored by citizens and only sporadically enforced, and "equal protection" is a joke.
Just wait until the laws are more even draconian than they already are and the enforcement is even more arbitrary than it is now. It will become like a negative lottery. Everyone breaks the law (because its stupid or unreasonable) and a few certain unlucky individuals will be singled out for punishment.
Well, I agree with your criticisms of the poster's tone, but I have to say that everything he or she described was mastered by all 4 of children shortly before or shortly after reaching the age of 2.
Some things are quite intuitive for people who are open to learning. Another benefit is that a two-year-old os not afraid to break something.
However, I must say that many of the gains in usability that Microsoft has made over the years is being casually tossed aside in the pursuit of style or look (which itself is horrible). The end effect is software is getting uglier and harder to use.
The other usability problem I've noticed is using cordless phones. Someone handed me a cordless phone the other day and the array of buttons was absurd. The reason phones were so easy to use is that they were all the same... that too is disappearing while companies are scrambling to cram all kinds of gimmicks of marginal (or less) usefulness.
We've reached a point where every product tries to do everything poorly and almost nothing does one thing well.
It does for Microsoft, since every Microsoft app is capable of doing anything on your system. I'm starting to think that that's not to provide ultimate flexibility, but rather that's the only way they can get their sh^h^h stuff to work.
Gee, that copy sounds like those stupid AT&T commercials from about 6 years ago showing people buying concert tickets at ATM's and other nonsense, claiming that AT&T would be providing these services.
The **AA organizations will only buy into the idea of P2P services if and only if it serves them to move us closer to a world where all media is pay-per-view or pay-per-listen. This is their ultimate goal, and Hilary Rosen and Jack Valenti, etc, sit at home and curse the fact that those lousy, cheating, criminal, consumer bastards can buy a CD or DVD and play it more than once without paying again.
Well, I don't know about you, AC, but I'm not particularly interested in pushing paper or digging in the dirt for a living.
If you're so against technology being used to solve problems, then I think you need to give up your modern conveniences, medicine and other services, otherwise you might be considered a hypocrite.
Slashdot Mirror
Just as effective as cyanide tablets, but longer lasting.
Monopoly or no, Microsoft beat them at their own game. Did MS abuse its monopoly? Yes, in many ways. Was IE objectively better than Netscape? Yes, eventually. Should IE have won over NS, yes, but because it was better, not because Microsoft cheats.
IE 1.0 and 2.0 were lame. IE 3.0 was catching up with NS 3.x. IE 4 exceeded Netscape, IMO, and NS 4.0 was a huge bloated mess, that was usable, but didn't add anything worth the bloat (again IMO). NS 6 might have been based on Mozilla, but they certainly didn't learn any lessons about bloat.
I'd use Mozilla on Windows, but the darn thing to too slow (it responds like it's swapping hundreds of megs to disk), so while it works great and has some features that are much better than IE, I'm still using IE.
I recently coined my own Microsoft-specific version of that law after reading some info about Office 11 being able to create documents that automatically download files off of the Internet when you open them.
It's been my sig for a couple weeks now.
Yep, if you have ever travelled across state lines, or telephoned across state lines or even imagined crossing state lines than _any_ possible infraction of the law you might commit is instantly a FEDERAL offense and can be dealt with by the Federal government. Hey, it's constitutional... which one are you going to follow, the interstate commerce clause twisted and tortured far beyond recognizability of its original intent and then taken to absurd extremes, or the plainly worded 10th amendment, which is almost universally ignored and violated by politicians of both major parties?
Actually, now they are Microsoft Bobs... ...which is worse.
...instead of sitting around surfing the 'net on company time, people will sit around and do ray-tracing on company time?
Well, I know the opposite isn't true, because my oldest son cried for about 6 months straight as a baby and he's very smart.
My second oldest could recite the Lord's Prayer and sing Twinkle, Twinkle before he was 2. He's incredibly smart and has an amazing memory, but doesn't interact well with his peers. It's nothing like autism, he just doesn't realize that most kids don't share his mostly obscure interests.
Well, then obviously you are not a no-nuke freak nor a Nader kook.
I didn't say opposing nukes makes you a freak, nor does supporting Nader make you a kook. I said that those freaks and kooks that do fit the description will jump on this as the new doom of the world.
Not me. Sounds kinda like Oddbit's hat.
I say we launch 'em all into orbit over Siberia, where they can reflect sunlight down and turn it into a tropical paradise.
Just wait until the no-nuke freaks, flat-earthers, Nader kooks and other Luddites get a whiff of how this technology works. They'll try to scare the public into keeping this from becoming a reality.
Of course we could really fry their minds by reminding them that the reason the earth is still hot inside is mostly because of radioactivity.
Still, I think ignorance could be a factor in the public perception of this product. Of course, I'll be first in line to buy one.
I hear the boot screen of Windows 2004 will show the spin cycle of a front-loading coin op washing machine. I think you're on to something here...
But don't you know... anything that COULD be used to circumvent copy protection is now illegal.
Please check your brain at a government approved collection center.
Federal agents will arrive shortly with flamethrowers, please provide them with access to all paper, pens and other writing materials. We don't want to burn down your house, but we will if we have to.
Well, Circuit City (at least the one near me) doesn't sell refrigerators any more either. It doesn't mean people aren't buying them.
Also, recall that they sometimes pick up rocks from Mars on the Earth. Stuff gets spread among the planets due to comet hits, etc.. If there is life in the atmosphere of Venus, it could have come from Earth before Mankind was around.
So you are implying that bad laws are simply ignored rather than repealed? Gee, you sound like the NJ Supreme Court. Of course, you're probably right.
Unfortunately, I think there's going to be an increasing trend of differences between what's on the books and what is really enforced. Look at speed limits... thanks to that ludicrous Federal 55 MPH speed limit way back when, speed limits are almost universally ignored by citizens and only sporadically enforced, and "equal protection" is a joke.
Just wait until the laws are more even draconian than they already are and the enforcement is even more arbitrary than it is now. It will become like a negative lottery. Everyone breaks the law (because its stupid or unreasonable) and a few certain unlucky individuals will be singled out for punishment.
The command-line keeps the user in control.
Now Ted Turner will want to go around colorizing old Benny Goodman records.
Well, I agree with your criticisms of the poster's tone, but I have to say that everything he or she described was mastered by all 4 of children shortly before or shortly after reaching the age of 2.
Some things are quite intuitive for people who are open to learning. Another benefit is that a two-year-old os not afraid to break something.
However, I must say that many of the gains in usability that Microsoft has made over the years is being casually tossed aside in the pursuit of style or look (which itself is horrible). The end effect is software is getting uglier and harder to use.
The other usability problem I've noticed is using cordless phones. Someone handed me a cordless phone the other day and the array of buttons was absurd. The reason phones were so easy to use is that they were all the same... that too is disappearing while companies are scrambling to cram all kinds of gimmicks of marginal (or less) usefulness.
We've reached a point where every product tries to do everything poorly and almost nothing does one thing well.
This is barely a blip on their radar. Hell, Hilary Rosen probably paid it herself in cash.
It's no mistake that they chose the Death Star as their logo.
Hey, they didn't adopt the Death Star as their logo for nothing!
It does for Microsoft, since every Microsoft app is capable of doing anything on your system. I'm starting to think that that's not to provide ultimate flexibility, but rather that's the only way they can get their sh^h^h stuff to work.
Gee, that copy sounds like those stupid AT&T commercials from about 6 years ago showing people buying concert tickets at ATM's and other nonsense, claiming that AT&T would be providing these services.
The **AA organizations will only buy into the idea of P2P services if and only if it serves them to move us closer to a world where all media is pay-per-view or pay-per-listen. This is their ultimate goal, and Hilary Rosen and Jack Valenti, etc, sit at home and curse the fact that those lousy, cheating, criminal, consumer bastards can buy a CD or DVD and play it more than once without paying again.
Well, I don't know about you, AC, but I'm not particularly interested in pushing paper or digging in the dirt for a living.
If you're so against technology being used to solve problems, then I think you need to give up your modern conveniences, medicine and other services, otherwise you might be considered a hypocrite.