Re: Pirates of Silicon Valley

[Vladimir Vooss <vvooss@ucsd.edu>]

Well, it's a very democratic piece you write. Very even, and sounding fair.
However, where are the other (OS) softwares you mention? What was the nature of
their demise, those that actually existed on the market. High quality is, I'm
afraid a subjective term.  Bill Gates' anti-piracy activity is very high quality.
The total gestalt, look, feel and overall behavior of Windows is, in others'
opinions itself very low quality. However the delivery mechanism of Windows
software is very high quality, albeit something of a shotgun wedding. Some of us
think that the Mac OS feels more like a European sports car, while Windows drives
like a Chevy Nova. These are subjective impressions, and in both camps, the
blistering territorial, paranoid and foolish little pirates, Steve Jobs and Bill
Gates' activities speak for themselves. We bought into them, because both these
guys killed all the competition they every encountered - until now... Linux makes
Windows feel cheap and plodding. BeOS makes both Mac and Windows feel like
overweight ex-champions. There are no winners unless wealth is itself something to
seek with total abandon. But if, because of the intense scrutiny that underlies
the public's re-evaluation of both Mac and Windows the contenders and others of
their ilk survive, then the alleged high quality of both Windows and Mac will be
more like water down the toilet.  We'll see.

Vladimir Vooss

Bruce Baker wrote:

> I didn't see this movie but people who poopoo Bill Gates are missing a lot.
> Gates obviously does a lot of things right or his company wouldn't be where it
> is.  This is the pure and simple fact.  Now you may not like the man, or you
> may be jealous of the man and his wealth.  But the fact is he has kept quality
> very high and he has satisfied his customers.   Otherwise people would have
> bought other software.  Now they may not have a choice about operating systems,
> but they do on software.  I have always refused to use internet explorer but I
> am about to at least not totally avoid it.  It is a good product, perhaps
> better than Netscape (which I always use when I can).
>
> 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.  Yes, I do think someday Microsoft
> will someday fall from its heights.  But it will probably be after Gates is
> dead or has retired.
>
> Bruce