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The X-box ????
The £93 million pounds paid for a 24.6% voting share in Corel????
Microsoft’s ".net" project???
Investment in NTL (can’t substantiate this one, the guy installing my NTL connection told me by word of mouth)????
Well Im just beginning to see what a clever man Gates is, some people think that buying shares in Corel is a way of Microsoft protecting itself from the US Governments Anti-Trust Lawsuit...
Which really is a disgrace, lets be honest OK you like having Internet Explorer free as Standard with Windows. But look at Netscape ... before Microsoft came along abusing its Monopoly, they were kings of the world...their web browser was the standard, then Microsoft made its own version Internet Explorer and Netscape’s Value plummeted overnight. Now of course if Internet Explorer was not free with windows this would not have happened.??? If you worked hard for Netscape you would be rightly annoyed with Microsoft.
Meanwhile around this time Microsoft gave Apple a large sum of money, to drop their Lawsuit (Apple were suing Microsoft for similarities between the Apple and Microsoft’s new OS Windows). The bribe only had the condition that Internet Explorer was part of Apples new OS.
The Big picture, do you see it yet, well when I tell you that Corel’s version of Linux, is arguably the most similar to Windows in use and appearance, and that as a result of Microsoft 24.6% shares Corel now has to work with Microsoft on Microsoft’s .Net Project.
Well it seems its all healthy competition, not likely. Why would Microsoft buy shares in a company that had set itself up as a direct competitor to its OS, a company that believes in a free OS for all??? Bare in mind if Microsoft Sold its shares in the Company it will go bust....Not healthy competition???
One reason is possible Protection from the US Governments lawsuit. But in my opinion it’s more likely that Microsoft are now setting up to take control of the low end of the Market. Now I use NTL, its free and a good service no complaints there...but then the Americans have had free Internet access for years, in this case its just BT being evil....so I don’t mind that. I recommend NTL to anyone, it takes a while to get your NTL disc, but I have got no reason to complain about the service.
The low end of the Market is the Key, Microsoft wants control of the internet be it on your Dreamcast (Why do you think Sonic the Blue Hedgehog was seen lately on an X-Box Demo), on your cheap PC running Linux (i.e. Corel), Your Apple Macintosh, Or your Powerful PC running The Latest version of Windows, or your set top box Connected to your Television (i.e. NTL).
As long as Microsoft’s Software connects you to the Internet you see its content, its vision.
Microsoft has stated that in the Future it expects all OS and software upgrades to be downloaded, at a one off payment or on a pay as you use basis...
This is what .net is you download only the software package you want to use, i.e. Excel with the latest version of Windows but nothing else... No doubt there will be a discount for buying lots of software together. This is a clever vision, how can you be anti-competitive if Microsoft give you the option of only downloading the software you want, nothing will be bundled together in one package, you choose.
Microsoft is in effect with .net blurring the definition of Application software with the OS software.... Hopefully then they won’t get split into 2 mini companies.
Its unlikely to get split up if BUSH becomes president.
Anyway to the point, what browser are you using, does it keep asking for the latest downloads of Microsoft Virtual Machine??? Do you play your MP3s on Windows Media Player, and more importantly did it change the file associations to make it the default MP3 player when you installed it, without asking you??? Somebody out there must know what Im talking about, Come on Sony protect the Low end of the Market...sell PS2 games cheap NOW.. or in a years time the X-box will come out with the ability to play cheap PC games, and X-box will eat you alive...
We all love computers and Games, but I don’t want one company controlling the whole picture, once USB modems are cheap enough for everyone Microsoft will dominate because of .net. Microsoft’s Vision will download to your machine in minutes not hours, and it will be hard to stop.
A final point once you control the software most people use to view the internet the Website designers will have to use your software to make their websites look good with your browser. I like some of the thing Microsoft has done, I like my cheap Internet access with NTL. But I don’t want them controlling everything...
Buy Nintendo or Sony Gamers, Use Winamp to play your MP3's. Competition is Good, when its fair, I hope the X-box drops the price of Console Games but I don’t want Microsoft dominating the low end of the market, What do you think?????
Bill Gates, in my view, has done nothing wrong. He bundles his IE with Windows, where's the harm in that? If anyone objects to this (funny how Netscape did) then it's only because they are worried that their product will not sell, which is what happened to Netscape.
He, tries to gain complete control of the WWW, again, if we were all against this we wouldn't buy his products, and his products ARE good, there's no denying that. I think that the American government is just going too politically correct over the whole issue. Where can the line be drawn between holding a monopoly on something and having a good product that sells by the millions and therefore assumes a monopoly in the marketplace. Personally, I think that there have been too many backhanders flying about in the Senate from rival companies lobbying for a greater share of the 'puting pie, and because MS are the largest company, they became the scapegoat of this attention.
As far as gaming is concerned, Sony, Sega and Nintendo are, for now at least, big enough to look after themselves, even with Gates looking at them as prospective rivals, so gaming won't be affected in the short-term (by that I mean around the next 5 years.)
So, in short, Bill Gates=good, people saying he is a tyrant and has too much of the marketplace=bad. But that, again, is just my opinion and does not reflect adversely upon anyone in this forum.
Desparados above the law.
Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent. Release Sonic. Sonic is innocent.
If I have, I am deeply sorry.
However, when did Sonic appear on a X-Box demo? I don't think he has. Point me to the page where it said he does, and I will aploigise.
Do you think Microsoft was within its rights, and should continue to try to dominate the computer and console market without restrictions??? I like competition, but a monopoly is not the best solution.
For example, Sega bought a share of BT's net plans before their launch... made deals with Virgin net and excite and loads more. Amazing...
Rav