Microsoft Hatred FAQ

[Roedy Green]

On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 04:06:16 -0700, "David Schwartz"
<davids at webmaster.com> wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted someone who
said :

>    Well shit, how surprising that they wouldn't want to do business with 
>you if you broke your agreements with them.

I am going to summarise this then drop out. My blood pressure is at a
boil.

I was a computer retailer. We built custom computers. I had 8 people
working for me.  This was in the time prior to Win95 when IBM had a
clearly technically superior solution with OS/2 to MS's Windows 3.1

I had no contract of any kind with MS.  I never bought anything from
them directly. I was far too small a fish.  I bought the components
including software through dozens of wholesale suppliers.

MS threatened to put any retailer out of business who would not
co-operate with them in extorting money from people who had no use for
MS Windows who explicitly for various reasons did not want to buy MS
windows.

To me that is no different from a popsicle manufacturer demanding I
sell $200 popsicles with every machine I sold. The machines needed MS
Windows no more than they needed a popsicle.  

The particular way MS threatened to put me out of business was by
threatening to arm twist all wholesalers to refuse to sell MS product
to me, which any retailer needed to survive in those days.

It was obviously quasi legal or the threats would have had paper to
back them up so I could go to court now to sue the fuckers.
-- 
Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green.
http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching.