Does Bill Gates really call the shots?

[lazygamer]

So is Bill Gates the devil, or just a front for the people in Microsoft who are really running the shots and making Wind0ze be a horrible monster?

So hypothetical question time!

1:If Bill gates was beaten to death by a psychopathic penguin(the larger, Linux user variety) with a lead pipe, would Microsoft start on a downward path of decay?

2:If a psychopathic penguin(once again, the larger type) emptied an AK-47 magazine(or two, just to ensure death rather then hospitalization was the result) into several "viable targets" during a Microsoft "big cheese meeting"(and Bill Gates was present) would microsoft start on a downward path of decay?

3:If several psychopathic penguins(ditto) stormed the Microsoft headquarters and murdered all sorts of slave workers, suits, and hopefully Gates, would Microsoft start on a downward path of decay?(not that im implying the grunt workers actually deserve to be killed by mean penguins)

4:#3, except would Microsoft be decayed REALLY QUICKLY?

[slave]

I know this must be hard for you to understand but you are a slave to Tux.

[creedon]

Ask yourself "If Henry Ford had been assasinated in 1923, would FoMoCo still be the same company today?"  I see Bill Gates and Henry Ford as very similar people; Ford became a real control freak, Gates is obviously headed that way; they both became obscenely wealthy in a short space of time; there's evidence that Ford used other peoples designs in his work, just like Gates.  Any day now, I expect MicroSoft to publish "The Protocols of the Elders of Linux".  At any rate, as long as Billy-boy is at the helm, MS Windows will be an invasive poorly-crafted P.O.S.

[lazygamer]

Of all the people to respond to this thread first.  

XP user im gonna talk to you on realistic terms, what I have to say is from a windows user and not a hardened Linux veteran.

I would love to stick with Windows, except it offers nothing for me. I discovered Fuckmicrosoft many months back. I took limited notice of it though. Then when they had their special article, I read it. In a matter of 10 minutes I was hooked, I now realize that my future shall be with Linux.

It always seemed to be common knowledge that Windows sucks, but what ya gonna do about it?
I neither loved Windows or hated it. I thought it was pretty shitty though, it seemed no matter how much ram I had, it didn't help. It crashed alot. I couden't figure out why something as scientifically simple as a GUI was so friggin slow. Why is it I have a 433mhz Celeron, yet I never felt I was cruising along at warp speed? I always imagined the next upgrade would put me to the next level, but it never did. Even Windows XP, which I loved and was originally under the impression I was starting anew with it, betrayed me. In fact it seemed to betray me worse then Windows98/95 ever did. Yet I feel as if I did nothing to cause it.

Luckily I never spent any money on it because all my copies were pirated.  

I've resolved that even if I must stay with W98 for many computer games, Linux shall be my l33t system for doing non-gaming things.

[AlexMax]

XP Boozer, take a good look at my sig...

Anyway, Gates will not last for much longer.  He will die in his 50's or 60's, due to a genetic disorder that was passed down on one side of his familty, and if he does, his kids are too young to inherit his empire.

Now this will seriously be a big blow to Microsoft.  But we still have Steve Balmer to worry about.  But empires like these seldom last forever...M$ will go down sooner or later.

[lazygamer]

Genetic condition? WOOHOO! Gates was born in 1955(found this out in search engine). It is now 2002. Please hold for math. He is about 47 now. He's gonna die in 8(55) to 18(65) years. 23 years(70) at the most. YES! Sadly, by 2010(55) he will have done so much damage.  

It's a shame that Ballmer is named Ballmer. His name is similar to the 7.62x54 SMG conversion called "Vollmer"(MP5 conversion?). How dare a lowlife MS loser descerate something as sacred and l33t as a 7.62x54 SMG.  

[tratan]

quote:
I know this must be hard for you to understand but you are a slave to Tux.

*chuckle* That's an interesting concept, XP-user.  Let's assume that us Linux-users are slaves to Tux.  Tux is a symbol, created by us, for Linux.  Since no one organization controls Linux, no one organization can take advantage of our dependence on Linux.  Redhat doesn't even come close.  This is a nice kind of slavery    

On the other hand, being a slave to Windows, or to Bill as leader of Windows, or to Clippy as a symbol of Windows's braindeadness, is very expensive in many ways.  You lose money, freedom (this EULA stuff), and performance.

What we need is a cult of Tux  

[DC]

quote:Originally posted by tratan:

What we need is a cult of Tux      

I'm actually pretty sure it exists. Look and find  

[Master of Reality]

what you need is The Cult of Bob

[badkarma]

quote:Originally posted by lazygamer:
XP user im gonna talk to you on realistic terms

that's something XP Luser's mental capacity can't quite fathom, the only thing he seems to understand is M$ FUD.

[cocoamix]

Henry Ford was a Nazi sympathizer, for any of you who weren't aware. He was the only American ever awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle (in 1938. Something that the Ford Motor Company oddly enough, doesn't tell people about.

Gates, while he has somewhat liberal political views, AFAIK, suffers from just as much megalomania as Ford did.

I hate Ford and Microsoft.

[sporkme]

i dunno, ford and ms are pretty different:
between gm, the euros and the rice rockets there is fair market sharing and competition.  like windows, though, cars have become too bloated and complicated to be understood.

--and about HENRY ford, the nazi fuck (if that is the case) i really dont think that has anything to do with the business practices of today's ford.  they are just as dirt-ass greedy as everyone else.

BUT THAT IS OFF THE SUBJECT (and please no one post that dumb bit about gates saying "if cars were like computers").........

gates is more of a front man for microsoft... like satan is a front man for people in hell...

microsoft is driven by two factors:  money and partners.  
if they can put an operating system on your mailbox, they will---only if there is money in it.
 
to make sure there is money in it, the mailbox people need to be in a partnership with the people that make the little flags.  through creative partnership, investing pressure, and death-defying legal acrobatics, microsoft can have the flag manufacturer (read intel) make sure that all the new mailboxes will only run "T.M.P.A." (trusted mailbox platform alliance) compliant os's.  if you dont get a new mailbox, you will no longer recieve mail (see chapter MCCXCI, section a.32.zzq.d~~2 of the EULA).

my point is this:  gates does not make the decisions.  everyone's greed runs the company, everyone from intel's and time-warner's investors to best buy and other retailers.

sometimes it seems like there is one company that does 75% of all business.  aol-time-warner-ms-nbc-intel-clear channel-........  

and thats why US and world economy is coming apart at the seams.

oh, and XPhozer23&*%*&@!%#&^%#!, i think the better part of you ran down your mama's ass crack and wound up the brown stain on the matress.

AHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

[ August 05, 2002: Message edited by: sporkme / bob ]

[lazygamer]

Ah I see, so when the termination squad with teh MP5s storm the MS building one day, orders shall be to shoot all targets regardless of suit status?  

[sporkme]

yes, kill them.  kill them all.

[choasforages]

doh, now the fbi is gonna read this and think someone is gonna do some whack shit or something, and then thell bust my house down and steal my warez