"If it weren't for Microsoft, Computers would not be what they are today."
Too bad they are NOT what they are today. Maybe they would be better? Amigas doing video editing on <50MHz...try that on any M$ O/S. Cannot be done. What is the clock speed on the Playstation? Still better clock for clock. Imagine having an Amiga class system with the technological advances of today with 2.0+ GHz. Wow...kinda boggles the mind, huh? Do you realize how fast 2GHz is? Do you realize how slow your system is running once you realize how fast 2GHz is? I do realize that the processor is not the major player in the speed of a PC - even if you had an infinitely fast Processor it would still take its time due the the other bottlenecks in a system. BUT...with 2GHz on tap Windows is just a total PIG.
Windows is like the Space Shuttle...It takes minimal power to send man into space. But to generate that power takes energy. To make that energy takes fuel. That fuel has weight which causes you to use more energy, which causes you to carry more fuel...which is more weight..etc. A gigantic SNOWBALL until you actually have enough fuel to carry all of the weight to do a simple task of getting the man (or a satellite) into space. Run Linux at 2GHz...or for that matter run any other O/S at 2GHz. Comparable to M$?...you decide!
Yeah, I will say that Microsoft had its place, but they have overstayed their welcome and have become like a rabid dog; attacking anything in their path. Sure, they helped us all follow a path to what we believed were "new" standards. But they have eradicated the true standards with their standards and ruined everything else in the process. Look at networking...it has totally changed and revolved around M$. They put stuff into their products that force other manufacturers to follow because they "must" maintain compatibility with M$. This philosphy of needing to maintain compatibility with M$ in order to survive is true, and that my friends, is the sad part.
In response to the comment earlier that Bill bought DOS. Well, that could not be the furthest thing from the truth. What REALLY happened? Check this out...After the initial attempts with other companies (like DR), IBM knew that there was a suitable "core" of an operating system out there that would fit their needs into getting an O/S off the ground within their very shore time table, but it needed modifications. They knew of Bill Gates and his capabilities as well as the company that wrote the operating system application. The problem for them was that if they approached the company with their plans for a PC around the other companies operating system, the price for the O/S would go through the roof (because IBM had deep pockets and was desperate). So rather than IBM trying to license the O/S directly they told Bill Gates to use their (IBM's) money to buy the O/S and modify it for IBM and then license it back to IBM. The money that young Mr. Gates bought the O/S from was not even his money - it was IBM's money! I guess IBM tried to rip off the company that wrote the code that Mr. Gates bought and they got their just reward. What goes around comes around. I got this story first hand from a friend of mine who was one of the corporate execs that was on the team that went to Mr. Gates to make the deals. Here is a really crappy part of the whole thing. A few years ago, this gentleman had requested meeting with Mr. Gates to ask for a Job with Microsoft (he had been part of the layoffs at IBM a few years earlier). Bill Gates did agree to meet with him (after all he owes part of who he is to this man). Guess what? Mr `I'm so f*cking rich I can buy the world' Gates told him no. His whole reasoning was that he needed to get away from the past at M$ and get on with the future and that having around someone from that era would not be good for the company. What a load of SHIT! Hey - thanks for everything NOW GO FUCK YOURSELF! Sadly enough this guy is one of the nicest old guys I know. In fact, he fixes up old PC's for FREE and gives them to low-income families that cannot afford one. Bill Gates as a person will...WILL pay - probably not in this life, but...well...you know.
(what a resouce we have in VoidMain, no?)
And there is my $.02
