Jack Stein wrote:

How so? What's the problem between a willing buyer and a willing
seller?

The problem was and is simple. The buyer was blocked from buying
competing products at the store. MS forbade retailers from selling
competing operating systems with threat of removing the retailer as
one of there markets. The result of these tactics left the consumer
with being willing to buy a home pc with the worlds worst operating
system, or whistling Dixie.

And the store became a willing Microsoft distributor. A Burger King
franchise is likewise prohibited from also selling McDonald's Quarter
Pounders. Don't blame Microsoft for no one wanting to be a BSD distributor.



The result of this corrupt bull**** is the world is stuck with the
worlds worst operating system, whilst the dumb ass users think they
are getting one virus after another, the truth is its the operating
system.

The world is not "stuck" with Microsoft. There are many others:
about 50 flavors of Linux, Unix itself, Macs, BSD, and one announced
just this week from Google. If people WANTED a different operating
system, they can, most often, get it for free! As it is, people are
voting with their wallets and the vote is 90% for Microsoft.

I am NOT willing to use any Microsoft product, yet I have never
bought a PC w/o a microsoft operating system. Whilst I despise
Microsoft I "willingly choose" to buy and run the worlds worst OS
because there is little choice unless you want to swim upstream all
day long. I have been a Unix administrator and am more familiar with
UNIX than 99.999% of computer users, and I am smart enough not to
swim up stream, there is no chance that the other 99.999% of PC users
could figure out how to use something like Unix.

Of course not. Unix is a 50-year old operating system designed by a
money-losing division of your local telephone company.

My wife gets ****ed
when Firefox upgrades itself because something changed. Microsoft
took advantage of this by illegally and immorally forcing its system
on unknowing consumers.


Illegal? Giggle.

Unknowing? If you're talking about updates, one can turn those off.



Capitalism only works well when competition thrives, and Microsoft
is a prime example of what happens when a corrupt, inept government
allows competition to wither on the vine.

Capitalism thrives when monopolies flourish. Monopolies are the bedrock of
our country and enshrined in our Constitution.

Article I, Section 8:
"Congress shall have the Power... To promote the Progress of Science and
useful Arts, by securing, for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the
exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."




You don't understand. Microsoft's biggest competitor is itself !

You're right, explain it to me.

An operating system is not a consumable. If Microsoft did not come
up with a new OS every few years, with desirable features that
people would pay for, it's revenue stream would wither. Last I
heard, they're still making money.

Microsoft has NOT come up with a new operating system since he bought
DOS from Patterson. The system was garbage then, and still is. The
unknowing public thinks they are getting viruses when 99% of the time
it is simply an operating system that does not work. The reason
they, and I, am using this piece of **** is because MicroSoft totally
controls the market. They control the market because of past illegal
marketing practices. I was in the market at the time, and
experienced what was going on.

DOS is long gone. Microsoft did invent Windows 1, 3, 95, 98 (et al) NT,
2000, 2001, XP, Vista, Win7, and many, many, variants.

Microsoft controls the market only for Microsoft products. Just like Taco
Bell controls the market for Taco Bell products. You are, however, free to
buy your taco anywhere you like.


When federal anti-trust Judge Stanley Sporkin heard the case against
Microsoft in 1994-95 he was appalled, and found for himself what I and
many already knew just from being in the game.

So he, too, was free to vote with his wallet and buy BSD or Unix.


I think it was/is far worse than he discovered, and imo it was not
just MS, but also Intel and IBM and the 3 of them have been in
collusion (can you say cartel) to insure you the consumer can
willingly buy any color you want, as long as it's black.

If you're referencing Model Ts, black is what made them so cheap. At the
time, black was the only color that would dry quickly enough to keep up with
the production line. Once you got the car, you were free to paint it any
color you chose - just like buying a computer and installing Ubangi.

Point is, if you're not using Windows, you're using dirt. Maybe mud.