March 30, 2005
Underdog
Everyone always cheers for the underdog and hopes that Goliath is slain, right?
That’s why we have all delighted in the trials and tribulations of Microsoft over the past year – Service Pack 2, Countless security holes, IE losing market share (to Firefox) for the first time since the interweb became popular, and Longhorn has been postponed until 2038.
We love to see the behemoth getting raked over the coals. Like March Madness – everyone cheers against Duke. Heck, it is the tagline for all sports stories on Fark.com, “Duke sucks”. We all wish that we had a viable alternative to using Windows, but it just isn’t there. Mac you say?
Sidebar:
How many people own Macs? Like 50? Seriously, given the market share that Mr. Jobs and his little cult have, how can they be so pretentious? Maybe it’s me, but for some reason I think that Jobs believes it is good enough to simply have a better product. Not so, Stevie, you need to have more than 18 people buying Macs each year. Yeah, yeah, I know, the iPod is the greatest thing in the world. Despite the fact that you are cornered into their little cult. They’re no better than Microsoft, just a lot less successful.
Anyway, the real reason for this post relates to the EU forcing MS to remove Windows Media player from XP. And here is the best part – one of the rejected names that MS tried to use for the EU version was “Windows XP, reduced Media version”. Obviously, the EU wasn’t fond of that. But I thought it was funny. Yeah, Microsoft sticking it to the man.
So since I was rooting for Microsoft here, does this mean that we’re starting to feel sorry for them, and they are no longer the (Duke Blue) Devil(s)?
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Wilson,
I’ve used about every OS out there. And I actually like Windows XP. It’s never disappointed me, and I’m enough of a techno-geek to know the difference.
But Macs aren’t the threat any more. It’s the Linux-worshipping opensourceophiles.
Someone needs to tell these people on their Linux-induced highs one little thing about the general public:
THE COMMAND LINE INTERFACE IS DEAD!
Sure thing, that’s why Microsoft brought it back on Windows 2003 server. In fact, for the first time ever, you can completely administer a Microsoft server at the command line.
As far as end user goes, Linux can be used by a typical end user without resorting to the command line. That doesn’t mean I believe it is ready to kill Windows on the desktop, but that day is not far off.
I feel bad for Microsoft in the same sense that I felt bad for IBM when they were still trying to sell mainframes and terminals.
When it comes to rooting against the bloated EU bureaucracy or Microsoft, I root against the EU. Simple as that.
If you want to know why you should oppose BOTH Microsoft and the governments trying to control Microsoft, read this excellent piece by Eric Raymond.
Why Libertarians Should Not Love Bill Gates
Personally, I’m no fan of Bill Gates or Microsoft, it’s just that the EU pisses me off a lot more.
I have a libertarian’s antipathy towards monopolies, but seriously, has there ever been a more “benevolent” monopolist than Microsoft/Intel? Their products appear to me, a non-geek, to be continually getting better & the cost of my computer keeps dropping like a rock.
Umm, how am I being hurt here? I bought my first IBM PC-clone for about $5,000– my secretary had to be a gymnist swapping in floppies–and I had to learn c-prompt commands.
My biggest problem now is Internet security, and the slowness I experience because of my antivirus programs.
There are other monoplolies/trusts that are costing me more– the auto industry, the oil industry, the insurance industry, the education industry.
I root here for Microsoft– screw the French/EU.
hey Red Mind, Microsoft has done a damn fine job of convincing you they are benevolent then. The reality is that a monopoly always costs you more (read the Wikipedia article on why this is so, I don’t want to fill a blog comment with economics). The reality is that two things have caused computer prices to drop. The competition among hardware manufacturers (especially the component manufacturers, not the assemblers like Dell) and the pressure that Open Source has put on Microsoft to finally start charging software prices that reflect the market value of their products.
Most of the improvement you attribute to Microsoft is not really MS innovating. Most of the innovation has come from other sources and been assimilated by them, often in very monopolistic fashion that hurt you, the consumer. Microsoft’s behavior, in fact, is very similar to the behavior of IBM in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Many long time IBM employees that I know are stunned that MS has basically done the same thing that IBM did without learning the lessons that almost killed IBM.
There are plenty of reasons to not like what the EU is doing. But that doesn’t make MS the good guy.