MS Antitrust and what you guys think.....

[jamesbond007]

Hello Anandtechers! I just got an InfoBeat email that talks about the MS Antitrust lawsuit and so forth. I'm just curious what you guys think of the whole thing.

Why are the rivaling companies so mad? I mean, sure, WinXP has built-in pcAnywhere, firewall, and so forth. Now, I'm sure that isn't top-of-the-line software/programming, and I wouldn't doubt a lot of people will still invest dollars into Symantec products. Netscape diehards will still download Netscape. (God forbid, J/K ) I sure don't trust the integrated FTP services within Windows, hence I use Bulletproof FTP.

Just curious what your thoughts are on this particular subject and how you feel about the whole thing. I'm quite frankly sick and tired of hearing about it, but nonetheless, it brings up quirks in the business industry.

Have a good day!

 

[yakko]

I don't care what Microsoft includes with their OS as long as I don't have to use it if I choose not to.

 

[rommel]

i think netscape with MS is kinda like metallica and napster...b*tch and moan

 

[randal]

I think it's not too bad ...

Microsoft's built in Terminal Server, IMO, is far superior to pcanywhere & vnc ... I use it extremely often, and it is a good peice of software. The built in IIS is holy, yes, but it's on it's way to being a good solution -- *nix didn't get where it is now without 20 years of tweaking. Give MS 1/2 that time to work on it, and it will be good.

As for the actual breakup, I think it's actually pretty good that they didn't get split up. I don't see their integrating of features as anything more "wrong" than GM or Ford putting extra features into cars. Sure, you can get your car and not use the AC, but are you going to go somewhere and have some other no-namer put in the AC for you in the first place? Of course not, you're going to get it when you get the car. Not too different from MS implementation of consumer-oriented and consumer-demanded applications.

Also, judge jackson was an obviously biased judge, what with him referring to gates as "caesar 2" and everything; I'm surprised it took this long for his verdict to be overturned.

$.02
randal

 

[Freejack2]

I'm suprised consumers aren't more pissed. If ma bell wasn't broken up, the internet as we know it today wouldn't have existed. And we'd still be renting our phones from ma bell and paying a dollar a minute for usa long distance.
Microsoft is not much better. They demand that every piece of software from them now has to be registered, god forbid you should want your privacy. They are forcing companies to do expensive software audits. The list of their viscousness goes on and on. They have no real competition. Yes Linux and Mac O/S are out there, but my wife who is a pretty intelligent woman can't get Linux to do a lot of stuff even with the help of a decent book. My best friend who in most circles is considered a Linux security expert still has a windows system... Why? Because you can't very many games in Linux. And as for Mac O/S you gotta buy one of their expensive computers to get it. Basically if your not a computer technician your only real easy to use O/S is Microsoft. They basically have everyone by the balls and they know it.
The antitrust suit was the one hope of breaking their monopoly, now even that is gone.
The only hope now is for them to reverse that judgement or for Linux to become an extremely popular and easy to use O/S.

 

[rommel]

ma bell?...that like a character from mayberry

 

[Freejack2]

<< ma bell?...that like a character from mayberry >>



*sigh* Ma bell was a nickname for the Bell System.
Here's some text on it:
1982 Landmark court decision broke the Bell monopoly. The Department of Justice
antitrust suit started in 1974, made it to court in 1981. Government and Bell
reached accord January 8, 1982 known as the &quot;Modified Final Judgment.&quot; Local
dial tone service remained a monopoly by geography, offered by the regional Bell
subsidiaries, which split into independent companies (Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, Bell
South, NYNex, Pacific Bell, Southwestern Bell &amp; US West.) AT&amp;T division kept long distance and manufacturing. Long distance opened to full competition. All
competitors granted &quot;equal access&quot; to the telephone network, resulting in the
formation of hundreds of long distance providers.

 

[EmperorRob]

<< Now, I'm sure that isn't top-of-the-line software/programming >>

Since when is anything made by Microsoft &quot;top-of-the-line&quot;.

 

[jamesbond007]

I guess if MS took out a lot of the &quot;integrated&quot; features of the Windows OS, they'd have no reason to charge people more for their newer OSes.

Honestly, I think Windows is a great OS. Yes, I said it. Go back and read it again. It's probably the most compatible OS on the market. I think Linux is a great OS too, but it's almost too &quot;tweakable&quot; in a way that actually makes it complicated. Compiling the Kernels, Mounting the drives, it's too complicated right now for most people. How about all those people that donate their time get together and make the damn thing user-friendly and so it has easy navigation? Linux comes DOWNLOADABLE with just about as many, if not more, features than the Windows OS. Complicatedness is what's keeping Linux behind. As for the Mac...to me it just plain sucks. Clumsy GUI, very few software titles. Only thing good is that it's decently fast at video rendering and that's about all their good for. I'd take any AMD/Intel solution over any Mac anyday of the week!

My $0.02

 

[jamesbond007]

EmperorRob, I never said MS did have top-of-the-line programming in the first place.

LOL, though.