Bill Gates / M$

Hey gang,

Why do so many people bash Bill Gates and Microsoft? You see and hear it all the time. I don't know enough about it to have an opinion but I can't figure out why the man / company are so villainized.

Why do users hate or resent them so much?

Steve

 

Probably the same reason(s) why people with limited abilities and limited minds like to 'bash' McDonalds; millionaires; big Corporations; the Govt., or just about anything that's high profile and successful.

Being a virtual monopoly doesn't endear them to many, either.

 

Microsoft is one of the biggest media corporations in the world and they have the power to control and regulate a ridiculous amount of information.
(any kind of corporatized media outlet is inherently bad for the society)

also, they have completely monopolized the market. Apple and Linux may be good alternatives, but it'll be a LONG LONG time before they reach the heights of MS. Gates and Co. has the power to charge whatever the hell they want because they don't have to worry about competition. And since there is no competition, the general public is literally forced to purchase a Microsoft product

Heres the re-cap:
Centralized power = bad
Centralized wealth = bad
Monopolies = bad
microsoft = shhhh... they may be listening

 

I too never understood the negativity projected towards him and his company. Though, the way he made it big is a bit..."questionable," I still admire him.

 

Questionable perhaps, but it is definatley one of the best business stratagies of the 20th century.

He worked out to make it big in computing you need to be able to do just about everything, and no one company can realistically do everything, so he bought other companies to do specific tasks for him, thus building his resources up and creating a company that CAN do everything.

People bash M$ because of computer security. In honesty, M$ are doing quite well with security, every day more ways found to exploit the Internet in some way or another. It's an unfortunate fact that most of the OSes were rushed out of the door with reletivly little time set aside for security testing: thus the abundance of security patches for OSes like XP. And don't forget, XP/2003 Server is arguably the most secure OS M$ has ever made.

It's also more stable. With win9x we used to get BSOD's almost daily. I've not seen a BSOD in months on my XP machines. I get slowdowns from time to time, but not complete lockups. The only time my XP machine has locked up is when my graphics card wasn't fully inserted!

All the negetivity is probably just jealousy and frustration with their software. Just because you get frustrated with somthing doesn't mean that its a bad thing, really. You can get frustrated with the best OS in the world if you don't know how to use it.

 

Heh, who put them in that position?

--The consumer.


Maybe everyone should start bashing themselves periodically, as well.

After all, it is their fault.

 

I agree with Goldy. The world is full of very small minds, who can't stand the thought of someone else being successful, and they have this need to tear it all down. They do the same with Starbucks. They say "support the little guy, go to the mom and pop stores, don't support the corporate giant" all the while forgetting that companies lke Starbucks, and Microsoft started out small, just like everyone else. Once it grows to be big and successful, WATCH OUT! The people who used to support it will turn on it like a rabid dog and tear it shreds.

 

The way I see it is that it's not just a simple monopoly. You do have several choices. You can choose the one that is the most versatile, or the many that aren't. With MS, we have something that works, and works well. Do you want a mess like we have with all the video games? I like the fact that if I go out and buy software, it will work on my machine.
What we have is a standard, which is dang good. I work in retail and see how often it sucks that there are not standards. For instance, you buy a Kenmore vacuum. You live at least 30 miles away from the nearest Sears. Now you need something as simple as a bag. Well, guess what. You can't find one anywhere except at Sears. Wouldn't it be nice to just be able to go out and grab a bag and have it work?

 

The problem with large corporations is that they lie to get where they are. If MacDonalds had said:

"Our product is made using the cheapest methods possible to maximize our profits, and will, over time, cause you many health problems if you use it regularly"

they wouldn't sell many burgers.



Is there a corporation out there that puts consumer health and safety over shareholder profits, without being ordered to by the courts/EPA/FDA etc?

They are all Union Carbides.

All corporate heads should be slid directly under the steroid taking athletes in the even deeper depths of hell.

BTW, this is not a rail against capitalism. I'm not dumb enough to think the other system is better. I just wish there were more accountability. They are all Enron executives. They just haven't all been caught.

 

MrPewty,

Odd that you should mention Union Carbide. My dad retired from there after 37 years and later died as a result to his exposure to Beryllium and other stuff.

Steve

 

MS is biggest because they offer the most consumer appealing product. Apple has a good system, but they made the mistake of wanting to own all the peripheral software as well, and severely limited their scope. Linux is NOT user friendly, and people won't accept a steep learning curve just to get the thing to run. Compatibility with hardware and software is a problem too.

There's an old American cliche that goes "Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door." Well, that happened with MS. Unfortunataly, in today's world, the follow-up to that cliche is "Build a better mouse trap, and after the world beats a path to your door, the disgruntled and envious will show up with pitchforks and try to beat your door down."

 

Agree with AA, the best thing about M$ is standards. Anyone, like me, who can go back to Tandy model 1's, Kaypro's, etc (circa 1982) appreciates the standards. 104 key keyboards, printer drivers, USB drivers, etc., quite often not needed, as M$ supplies a "generic" one. In the old days every program had its graphic driver, printer driver, etc. And they were all OEM, not interchangeable. I remember going through DOS 2.11, 3.1, 3.11 WFWG, DOS 4 (forget that), DOS 4.01, DOS 5.0. Loved DOS 5.0 as you could really setup up how, and in what order, your programs booted to squeeze the last megabyte out of 640mb. What would load into high memory and save precious RAM !! Ah, the olde days.

Stick with M$, use XP if you have it, and tweak them all for best results. Bazza
That's why you are here on MG, isn't it. Baz

===

 

I'm sorry to hear that Steve.

I hate them all.