Re: Pirates of Silicon Valley

[wbdesnoy@acs1.acs.ucalgary.ca (Byron Desnoyers Winmill)]

In article <377810C9.7C57E0C1@earthlink.net> you wrote:
: Bruce Baker wrote:

: > Word is also very good.
: >
: > I think Win98 and Win 95 are very buggy, but that is probably because they
: > have had to become maclike.  MacOs was always more buggy that Win 3.1.
: >
: > There is plenty of competition out there.

: That's the thing - there isn't any competition. Microsoft destroys or buys
: out any company if there is even a hint that they might be a competitor.
: They don't play "fair"; and by that I mean they break the law - as this
: current anti-monopoly lawsuit the Government has filed against them will
: show. Remember what happened to

Bruce is correct, there has been competition for Microsoft at every stage of
the game.  In some cases, such as with our Apple II, the products were not
innovative enough nor evolve quickly enough (though that would be the one
thing which I do like about the line).  In other cases, such as with OS/2,
the company offering the product did not show enough determination to shift
the consumers perspective on the product.  In even other cases, including
the Macintosh and Amiga, the problem was the expense of hardware coupled
with the lack of choice (in add-on hardware and software).

Sure, Microsoft didn't play fair.  But the bottom line is the mould could
have been broken while there was still strong competition.  There isn't
today, and that is why we see this anti-trust case.  (Note, it is not an
anti-monopoly case as there is still much competition.  The problem is the
competition is much weaker or serves niche-markets.)

Oh, and the bugginess of MacOS is not the problem with Win9x.  For one thing,
system 6.0.x was very stable and very fast.  I like computers which are
ready to work once you have turned them on.  :-)

But as I said before, Apple didn't die because of Microsoft but rather because
of Apple.  They didn't view the II line as the future of computers and they
were probably correct.  Even Intel PC's are becoming more Macintosh like in
this new age.  Why, because it is a better model for users.  For programmers,
hardware hacks, and so forth, perhaps this is not the case.  But our era has
ended.  The best that we can do is to go on our own.  Perhaps that is why I
continue to use my IIe and IIgs.

But that is my opinion.
Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill.