MicroShaft Is a Monopoly

[everettes]

Barney, is that the best analogy you have?

As I recall, MS-DOS was about $100. Now Win98, to those of us builders, costs about $70. Now the way I figure it, we now have 1000 times the functionality with 1000 times the ease of use with 1000 (easy) times the hardware\software vendors. For less.

Even if you take into account inflation, Windows SHOULD cost more.

Figure into that the EXTRA's that MS built into Win95\98\2000 that used to cost extra...a word processor, defrag prog, disk cleanup, e-mail prog, browser, Solitaire (NO ONE can live without that), Dial up networking, backup, newsreader, imaging, media player, fax software, and countless more.

Now, if you want to go buy Wordperfect, Norton Utilities(I shiver), Eudora, Navigator (anyone know why Navigator is free now?), Hoyles Card Suite, some off the wall DUN prog, Seagate or Conner Backup, a newsreader (it'll come with your $50 Netscape purchase), some 3rd party imaging software,Real Player G2 Plus, Winfax, and who knows what else then go ahead.

For the PC's you buy, Windows is a small part of the total price yet COMPLETELY feature complete for the average user. AT NO EXTRA CHARGE.

MS may have strong armed a few companies, that's business. The OEM's could have put their money elsewhere but knew that the customers WANTED what MS had.

We're at this juncture because of everyone wanting a standard. MS didn't pull this off alone.

[Chris Blake]

everettes,

Good points, well made. I totally agree.



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Chris Blake

Epox MVP3G5, K6III450, 192Mb RAM, G400Max DH, SBLive! Value and whole load of other stuff

[Barney]

Excellent points by all. I personally feel many of you are too willing to cut MS slack, but that's what discussions are for. Anyway, as consumers, the best we can do is vote with our feet and our wallets.

I've been dual-booting for about three months (W98 and RedHat), and I agree with Marshmallowman that Linux may have a real shot now. Time will tell.

On a more Matrox-related note, I just checked my UPS shipping #, and my G400 MAX is in town, and will be on my doorstep this afternoon. Please don't be too harsh on me if I need to post any problems.

Thanks again for the dialogue.

Barney

[MattTr]

It is funny how some complain about the price of Windows.
A new version only comes out every 2-3 years.
Even at 100.00 that is still a LOT less than we spend on hardware upgrades and games.
I spend over 100.00 a month on games alone.

[Tessen]

Glad to hear it, Barney! This really is the place to be if you have any problems with your card.

....Tessen....

[merchant2112]

yep ms is a monopoly, and i care becuase.....

just leave ms alone, i might not like the companys policys but hey lets fluck with the one company that all 90% of our computers run on and that 90% of the software out thire that is worth any thinng to most of us gamers and bussiness is writen for and see what happens in a few months. oh ya and where would we be if we did not have this monopoly on the os of desktop pc's ? let me think? still gameing on dos with no priority apis like direct x for video sound ect... or open gl on a widely uniform platform (windows)

oh forget it you don't care this is all fiction could never happen. (isn't that what they said before we landed on the moon????)

[Gurm]

All MS-bashers, please show me:

1. An OS that runs my apps AND my games in a scalable, user-friendly manner.

2. An OS that supports ALL my hardware for no extra cost.

Can't do it, can ya? Linux may be wonderful, but until I can boot into a graphical environment that allows me to manipulate files through a method other than command-line interaction... until I can play Warcraft and render in 3D Studio MAX (both available only for Windows) at the same time...

Gimme a break. Yes, MS is evil. Yes, their business practices are horrible. Yes, they've been unfair. But what do you want now? What does this ruling of the supreme court help to prove? Please, tell me.

My last copy of Windows cost me about $75. Please enlighten me as to what other commercial OS can be priced like that and run as well on my hardware?

I'm waiting.

- Ash

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

This signature is not Copyright by anyone. Especially not some guy named Steve. Yeah. That's it. Please don't kill me, Holly.

[KvHagedorn]

There was a time, when the railroads were young, that each railroad had its own track gauge (width between the rails on the track). There were MANY railroads. Each railroad chose its gauge because it thought it was best, but when freight came to the end of the line, it would have to be transferred to another freight car on another line, which was pointless and cumbersome, wasting time and money. The standardization of rail gauges streamlined things so much, there was a huge jump in the GNP and the standard of living. Simply by standardization.

The points made in Microsoft's favor seem to hinge on this value. The value of having one thing as the standard. In this way, Windows is certainly a good thing. But Windows is not the standard because a responsible group of industry leaders met to make it such (as happened with the railroads). If this had been the case, surely Unix and X Windows would have gotten the nod. (And would have been developed much further by now)

Windows is the standard OS for the same reason Latin was the universal language 2000 years ago. Conquest. Ruthless, bloody, unprincipled conquest. Sure, the Roman Empire brought a lot to the world, but it did so by destroying anyone who opposed it, and oblitterating countless other cultures. Same with Microsoft. There was no free market decision making MS-DOS or Windows the standard. Only the licensing and legal conquests of a ruthless General Bill Gates.

Unix is not a commercial product. It was developed by a group of computer people simply for the sake of creating the best operating system that could be created. Where the "free market" really operates in the world of computer operating systems (the server market, where the administrators can pick an OS based solely on merit), the winner was chosen long ago. It is a form of Unix known as BSD.

As a practical matter, yeah, Windows9X is the way to go now. But with some support and development, FreeBSD or Linux, with a better developed X Windows system, should be able to challenge Microsoft from the professional end down.

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Kind Regards,

KvH


[This message has been edited by KvHagedorn (edited 09 November 1999).]

[Wombat]

Hey Gurm..
Linux can (and as a standard option) boot directly into a GUI. And I like my GUI file managers as much/more than explorer.
Warcraft? I don't know. StarCraft (the Windows version : yes! Heretic,Doom,Quake,QuakeII, Civilization, Myth II, they're already ported. Q3, native. Plenty of other porting going on, too. Just check out Loki games.

Everything else is just coming along with time.

[Himself]

Nuno,

Cheers!

Anyone see that Guiness book of world records show? There was one episode when a woman had this huge tumour growing out of her side. Basically, it was a minor problem that she didn't take care of because she had a phobia of some sort. She finally had it removed and is doing fine, but just think of how many years of her life, pain, etc, she could have saved by going to the hospital earlier. You'd figure her friends or relatives would have forced the issue instead of letting things drag on. Windows is a lot like that tumour.

[Guru]

Originally posted by Nuno:
I loved the "guru meditation" mombo jambo

I obiously was wery drunk at the time(I can't remember anything)! How exactly did it look like when I was meditating and doing the "mombo jambo" at the same time?

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Join the MURC SETI team! | SETI @ MURC

[This message has been edited by Guru (edited 18 October 2000).]

[LAMFDTK]

What an original Thread!

Last time I saw a thread like this I fell off my Dinosaur

Last time I quoted that phrase It was 1969. GOd I miss the '60's heheheh

[Guru]

BTW what hapend to Buuri?

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Join the MURC SETI team! | SETI @ MURC

[Nuno]

[Jammrock]

Here's what the Jammrock says (I'm still recovering from a nasty cold so this probably won't make any sense):

1) Windows works...most of the time. Is Windows as good as it could be? No. Can someone make something better? Yes. Will anything better make it to the standard users computer anytime soon? No. Will it ever happen? Eventually.

2) M$ holds a monopoly on the consumer OS market. I don't care what arguements you ramble off, they use their business power to stiffle competition and SUCCEED. And that's why they are a monopoly, IMO. Example, if Corel went to Compaq and said we're going to raise the price of WordPerfect Suite 2000 (when Compaq used to load it) if you load Office 2000, would Compaq cave? No. If Microsoft went up to Compaq (which they have) and said if you load Netscape's browser on your computers, we're going to raise the price of Windows on you (which they did), would Compaq cave? Yes (which they did). When a company can threaten another company as large as Compaq, Dell, Gateway and Micron and win, you know they have a monopoly.

3) Should M$ be broken up? Depends on what they will do with M$. If they split it up between the OS and Applications company, I say no. The only way I can see M$'s strangle hold on the OS market (which they have, because everything is written for Windows) is to force M$ to release the OS kernel to other companies for a 'small' fee (as in, pay per kernel you load). That way you could have an OS loaded with Symantec tools and Corel if you wanted, without any M$ products, and still have the compatibility, because you would be running the OS kernel. Now when I say kernel, I mean the bare bones OS and hardware interface components. Will this ever happen? No.

Quite frankly, I've heard these arguements so much it hurts my head reading them anymore. There are better products out there, it's just that there are none to little support software written for them. Which is why Windows will maintain it's stranglehold for the forseeable future. So in the end it doesn't matter what you think, because M$ rules the OS world, and there ain't crap you can do about it.

Jammrock