Microsoft Hatred FAQ

[John W. Kennedy]

entropy wrote:
> steve at REMOVETHIScyber.com.au wrote...
> 
>>On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:54:13 +0000, John Wingate wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Steven D'Aprano <steve at removethiscyber.com.au> wrote:
>>>
>>>>That would be a good guess, except that Microsoft's predatory and illegal
>>>>behaviour began long before OS/2 was even planned. It began in the mid
>>>>1970s, with MS DOS.
>>>
>>>Nitpick: MS-DOS first appeared in 1981.
>>
>>[slaps head]
>>
>>Of course it did.
> 
> 
> The first thing I ever bought of Microsoft's, in 1982 or so, was a 
> CP/M board for my Apple IIe.
> 
> CP/M, whose programmers to this day defend sticking with 8-bit CPUs 
> because 'they can't find a 4-bit chip they like'.  Yeah, there's some 
> desktop innovation for you.
> 
> OS/2 1.0 was released in 1987, but the "selling" of it started in 
> 1985 or so by IBM and Microsoft.  It was a 286 OS.  

Only to the extent that IBM promised a protected-mode operating system 
in 1984, when the PC-AT came out.

> IBM seems to have had a history of squeezing out competition in the 
> same way Microsoft has, if I recall correctly.

IBM was genuinely innovative, and did their best to provide value for 
money. Microsoft hasn't been able to produce anything but me-too 
products since the 80's. (Multiplan, Word for DOS, the QBASIC engine, 
early sponsorship of mouses, and the gutsy decision to morph MS-DOS 1.0, 
a CP/M quasi-clone, into DOS 2.0, a Unix quasi-clone, are about all I 
can give them credit for.)


-- 
John W. Kennedy
"Those in the seat of power oft forget their failings and seek only the 
obeisance of others!  Thus is bad government born!  Hold in your heart 
that you and the people are one, human beings all, and good government 
shall arise of its own accord!  Such is the path of virtue!"
   -- Kazuo Koike.  "Lone Wolf and Cub:  Thirteen Strings" (tr. Dana Lewis)