Microsoft Hatred FAQ

[David Schwartz]

"Antoon Pardon" <apardon at forel.vub.ac.be> wrote in message 
news:slrndlpdig.hdl.apardon at rcpc42.vub.ac.be...

>>     Microsoft had something you need so badly that you could not go into
>> business without it. So they demanded from you that you pay them what 
>> their
>> software was actually worth to you. That is not extortion. Everyone who
>> sells something tries to get the maximum possible value for it.

> If a company wants to be paid for things it didn't deliver, then I think
> that is extortion. Microsoft want te be paid a license on windows for
> P.C.'s that were sold without windows.

    I think you need to look up "extortion" in a dictionary. I can walk up 
to you and say "if you want me to mow your lawn, you must pay me $1 every 
time you smoke a cigarette". So long as you can say "no" and all that 
happens is that I don't mow your lawn (which I have no obligation to do 
anyway), it isn't extortion.

    The funny thing is that if Microsoft really had a monopoly on x86 
operating systems, their deal would have been fair. Since you can't use a 
computer without an operating system and theirs would have been the only 
one.

    DS