[geeks] Subject: Re: Microsoft Surface...

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Doug McLaren wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 02, 2007 at 08:51:57PM -0700, William Kirkland wrote:
> 
> | Microsoft products are crap, because Microsoft imposes limitations  
> | used to ensure that their products are not compatible with similar  
> | products.  Microsoft has not provided innovation, only marketing.
> | 
> | ... so yes, Apple who does innovation is received with awe and wonder.
> 
> Wow.  Those are some remarkably broad brushes you're painting
> Microsoft and Apple with.
> 
> Microsoft has done some pretty remarkable things over the years.  And
> so has Apple.  And both have done some pretty underwhelming things
> over the years as well.

What remarkable things has Microsoft done?

I like some of the things in the labs, but what comes out isn't that great,
and it comes with strings attached.

> As for Microsoft deliberately making their products aren't compatible
> with competitor's products, that's really only true for a small subset
> of their rather large product lines -- and I'm not even sure it's
> really been *proven* rather than just theorized anyways.

No, it isn't theory, it is fact.

Microsoft refuses to cooperate at almost any level.

They withhold information about their data formats deliberately to stifle
competition and scrutiny of their work.

They make artificial incompatibilities even among their own products.

Microsoft has tried repeatedly to take control over the PC platform, with one
of their biggest plans being a change that would keep them from booting
non-Microsoft operating systems.  I remember a speech by Bill Gates talking
about this and how it would enhance the user experience.

Theory?  Yeah, right.

> For example, this Microsoft optical mouse I'm using rocks.  And it was
> only like $15.  Which products did they go out of their way to make it
> not work with?  Not sure -- the same model certainly works fine on my
> Mac.

That's hardware based upon standards they have no control over, since they
didn't design and didn't build it.



-- 
shannon                      | javalin:
                             | an unwieldy programming weapon used to stab a
                             | software project through the heart until dead