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

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Mark wrote:
> On 3 Jun 2007, at 18:19, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> 
>>> 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.
> 
> That's so much BS it's not true. 

Really, how so?

Microsoft didn't design the optical mouse, they copied the design like almost
everyone else.  The last time I checked, they farmed out production.

They *might* do design of the mouse and board layout internally, but that's
pretty trivial stuff.  Most of their case designs suck, but overall the mice
are OK, and I never contested that.

As long as Microsoft has no control over the mice, it is reasonable to assume
they won't screw it up, and that's my point.

It's interesting that you praised Microsoft by mentioning the one product they
sell that they have no control over.

> As a lot of Linux distro's prove you can stick to 'standards' in a variety
> of ways, some of which are truly terrible :P

How is this relevant?

Just out of curiosity, what standards does Linux adhere to that are truly
terrible?

99% of it is UNIX and open standards that far more than Linux uses, so I'd be
interested in what you think is so bad.

I know of a few, but I'm curious if you were just making idle commentary or if
you really knew of something.

I can sum up how I feel like this: UNIX sucks, but everything else currently
sucks worse.

I'm not real happy with the computer industry as a whole, and Microsoft is
probably the largest single guilty party, but hardly the only one.


-- 
shannon /  Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the
-------'   range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime
literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express
it. -- 1984, Orwell