I don't usually do this, but this time I will feed the troll....
I really don't care how much money Bill Gates has. I do believe in the capitalist economic system. Anyone who believes that there are any viable alternatives might consider asking his proctologist to return his head to a more normal location.
But I also dislike M$ business practices which are anti-competitive and monopolistic. I dislike M$ more for that than for the quality of their software. Not that their software is great... or even good... but that's of little concern to me now that I've achieved software freedom; i.e., I don't use M$ at home at all any more and hope to be free from it at work soon.
I REALLY object to having any product rammed down my throat. I would object to being forced to purchase a particular make of car, hammer, furnace or breakfast cereal. And that all goes back to being a capitalist. There is no capitalism if there is no competition. Monopolistic business practices are outlawed in capitalist states for this reason.
If Bill Gates had his way we would have no choice of computer operating systems or applications. It would be M$ or nothing. As it is, it is already difficult to purchase a computer without Windows installed. You are not even given the option of purchasing a computer with an older version of Windows; e.g., try to buy a new computer with Win98 installed.
Then go out and buy a copy of M$ Office. Drop between $250 and $450 for it. Use it for 2 years or so then buy another a new one. Why? Because BG and M$ decided that their newer product will create file formats that your older version will not be able to open. Oh, and if you're running a version of Windows more than a few years old, prepare to shell out for a new version of that too. Because the new Office suite will not run on older Windows OS's. But if you think that the newest version of Windows will run on your old hardware... think again. Better plan on buying a new computer too. (You don't suppose that Intel et.al. support THIS do you???)
Use M$ if you enjoy being raped on a regular basis. Support it if you think that one company should be allowed to forcibly rape everybody at their pleasure. If you think that forcible rape should be permitted, well, go ahead, but it seems to be criminal to me (and to most feminist groups as well, but that's another issue).
Ok, you witnessed it... I responded to a troll. You won't see it often. Enjoy.
Jim
