Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 — The Department of Justice said Thursday that it will not seek to break up Microsoft in the new phase of the landmark antitrust trial, and won’t try to prove that it was illegal for Microsoft to make the Internet Explorer browser a non-removable part of the Windows operating system.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Um, does this seem like an about face too you? Looks like someone just got bribed, and received not only a bag full of money, but sever thousand stock certificates for microsoft.

It is true, Money CAN buy you imunity.

Re: Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

More likely a delayed effect of the adminitration change..

Phoenix-D

Re: Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

I will simply say that at this point in time it appears that Microsoft must be tolerated. The same goes for Intel and IBM. I note that the greatest economic expansions in history occurred when "robber barons" were allowed to prosper. Monopolistic practices do however become intolerable past a certain threshold. It is interesting to note that at a certain point the very wealthy become aware that they really cannot take it with them and divest themselves to fund foundations which endure for generations.

The children of the wealthy are generally able to spend more time on education and CAN be a powerful influence for progress. Where things have gone wrong is a fascination with self indulgence rather than a commitment to public service. Another major flaw has been a fascination with political manipulation to control the general population. This behavior has also reached a threshold of allowable tolerance.

I have taken sides on the issues to a certain extent, as you noted in the little joke which was so objectionable to geoschmo. I am willing to give a few pointers here there and yonder but do not on principle think that I should do more than that. The change in policy by the government versus Microsoft is nothing I did but probably results in a shift of tactics rather than a strategic about face.

I would be satisfied to see several more robust computer architectures become available which are NOT designed for hacking as the IBM PC compatible designs so obviously are. Such hacking ability is not just vulnerable to script kiddies but also to renegade Microsoft employees......

So far as operating systems go there should also be alternatives, in particular some which do NOT force the customer to buy a whole house when all they need is a kitchen sink, to switch metaphors slightly from what I used previously. The new Amiga digital environment addresses the issue of cross platform interoperability and encourages innovation to reduce the overhead of the current operating system layers. In other words, the level of abstraction from the hardware is now ratcheting up another notch. Another notch is practical now because processor speeds have improved significantly. As Arcadenut pointed out, we would still be in the dark ages of command line interpreters if it were not for icon and menu protocols. As I pointed out, that was NOT a contribution by Microsoft but was hijacked by them.....

So far as the objection I have to marketing, advertising, and sales practices go, I have a simple suggestion to make. Let the government put a percentage of sales cap on what can be expensed and anything in excess of the cap must come out of profits rather than be expensed.

Any further questions are welcome, please feel free to ask. Not that what I think is important in the long run.....

Edit :
I am confident that a former Texas governor like President Bush will be able to do the right things once Congress is brought into line, and do whatever is best for the people of the USA rather than follow an agenda limited to his own personal ambitions and those of the Republican party. The party loyalty overriding common sense is another major problem, but I do not meddle in politics.....

[This message has been edited by LCC (edited 07 September 2001).]

Re: Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

http://legacy.sheltonbbs.com/~jmauk/sh160.html

Pretty good if you know how to read it.

Re: Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

Microsoft, Intel, and IBM.

The three big heartless companies that seem to endure regarless of the injustacies they commit.

Microsoft - Apple
Intel - AMD
IBM - Del, Compaq, Apple

The big 3, Software, CPU, and Hardware. Together they dominate. I wonder if they have some kind of secret pact that keeps them on top. MS writes programs that support intel, but run like **** on AMD. IBM exclusively uses Intel Products, and Intel cut throughts and backstabs to get their CPU, MB, and Memorie considered the standard. All three of them dilibrately undermine the competition, and they should all be broken up, and sold off like AT&T was. Look at how that helped that industry.

I know, they are the standard, and they do get the job done. People alway root for the underdogs, and its fun to poke jokes at the big three, but the truth is, they are what they are because they are the best. And we all know it.

MS, does write the programs that make the world go round.
Intel, does produce the chips that drive the industry.
IBM, is the standard by which all other machines are compared.

I wonder what the next 10 years will bring us?

Re: Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

I have deliberately ignored and avoided all news regarding hardware for the past ten years. However unless the current generation hadware is using Gallium Arsenide or something similar then the industry definitely needs to take a second look at the situation. What is being used, silicon on sapphire or diamond surface deposition ?

There are or were plenty of hardware technologies available which could compete - check out Motorola, Texas Instruments, Zilog, Rockwell...

I will add one to the list of sayings.

If what you really need to do is fish in the deep blue sea, then if you are a hunter you should trade your big guns lock stock and barrel for 10 foot poles.

Re: Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I know, they are the standard, and they do get the job done. People alway root for the underdogs, and its fun to poke jokes at the big three, but the truth is, they are what they are because they are the best. And we all know it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Only for sufficiently warped values of "best". IMO all three leaders are excellent examples of "'Good enough' is the enemy of 'better'." Microsoft in particular is a triumph of hype over substance.

------------------
Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Re: Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

Have another :

Nobody can knaw a bone of contention without somebody else being involved......

Re: Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

I suppose that after saying that it would not hurt to tell about a little confrontation I had the other day just before posting the request for a dose of sobriety. I was sitting at the kitchen table eating salsa and chips and chuckling. My sister came in and said I should stop it.

I said : Whats wrong with a little bit of humor ?

She said ***NOTHINGS*** wrong with ***THAT***
and stomped her foot gritting her teeth.

I managed to stifle a roar of laughter....

A couple of times there I changed the spelling from what the keyboard actually typed. Just substitute what you think I should have said.

Re: Sounds like someone just found a bag of money
 

MS, does write the programs that make the world go round.
-------------------------------------------
Round or truncate, that is the question.
If you try to put a square peg in a round hole then something has to give, otherwise nothing will happen.

Was that over your head ? If so, then whistle for help.