Re: [tlug] [OT] Say _no_ to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard

["Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com>]

On 08/07/07, Roger Markus <rogermarku@example.com> wrote:

> Good debating points, but you're ignoring the fact that there's
> something immoral about supporting an illegal and rotten-to-the-core
> corporation like Microsoft.

Really?

Let's just assume for a second that you are right and that Microsoft
is uniquely illegal and rotten to the core (ignoring the companies of
the men for whom the antitrust laws were written because of:
Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie, Ford, Gould, et al.; ignoring the
current batch of "health care" and pharma companies that place profit
ahead of human life in a very real way).

Look at what Bill Gates has chosen to do with the money that he
"stole" from the people of the world who are rich enough to afford to
buy computers and software:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation

Bill Gates is applying his business acumen to helping the poor, sick,
and hungry of the world. I don't know how much you know about NGOs and
the international aid system, but let me assure you that it is full of
graft and evildoers. You want to call Microsoft evil, how about the
NGOs whose members lived like kings in Rwanda in the famous Hotel,
living large off the profits gained from selling expired AIDS medicine
on the black market while AIDS ravaged the poor of the country?

Gates, whatever you think of him, is certainly no dummy. He knows
dirty business when he sees it, and I think this is where he can
really make a different. He is too rich to bribe, and ruthless when it
comes to getting the most aid bang for his buck. Frankly, the world's
poor are lucky to have the guy on their side.

Microsoft has broken antitrust laws according to the US and EU
governments, and most people would agree (including me). They've been
fined, life goes on. Sorry, that is just the game. If you pay
attention to global news, there is a big corporate scandal reported
every week. Microsoft, unlike Enron or Arthur Anderson or Apple
(backdated stock grants; nice!), has never stolen from their own
shareholders.

Frankly, big companies often flaunt various laws to maximize profits.
And why not, since there are no real consequences for white collar
crime in the US or EU or JP (unless, like Hori, you piss off one too
many politicians)?

To call Microsoft "evil" for what they do cheapens the word.

And why do you care? Frankly, the so-called Microsoft Monopoly has not
affected me for seven years. No-one forces me to use Windows, no-one
forces me to learn .Net.

I have had no trouble whatsoever finding employment, with four
different companies thus far, as a Unix programmer and/or sysadmin.

So the only time the "monopoly" affects me is when people like you
waste bandwidth comparing them--apparently--to Hitler, Stalin, Satan
Who is the Prince of Darkness, and the Great Old Ones of Cthulu fame.

I frankly don't buy your argument, and while I am no lover of
Microsoft's products, I really do not see how their business practices
are any more or less repulsive than those of any other major
corporation. Microsoft, by virtue of their success, is at the top of
your radar. But let me assure you that there are plenty of companies
out there who truly deserve your label of "evil". Big Pharma, I'm
talking to you, bitches.

--
Cheers,
Josh