[Wondercow]

bousozoku said:

Is Windows Mobile (wasn't it called WinCE originally and made you wince?)

[ThePixelDoc]

Well how timely can a thread, and quote from Ball-ME-r be? Just this morning I had a run-in with M$-openness.

About a month ago, due to another major security threat with IE, it was all over the airwaves here in Germany , that people should be using any browser BUT IE.

So a girlfriend of mine decided to install Safari, because she likes iTunes so much. Not my choice of a browser (Firefox on all my OSes)... but it was, "anything-other-than". She didn't like it, and it is well known, it didn't render IE sites correctly... so she uninstalled it.

Now links from Outlook refuse to open IE with a "not enough admin priv's" dialog. Next step: Google "links don't open from outlook" (5,100,000 hits!). Solution: check to see that IE and Outlook are the standard email/browser progs. If that doesn't do the trick, then change the registry key. WHAT! I"m going to explain to a tech neophyte over the phone to hack the registry so that she can open links from within Outlook!

Summary: Install a different browser than IE, and then resort to a possible reinstall of everyhting if ya screw up the registry hack if you're "forced" to return to IE as your primary browser. It was just this type of thing that got M$ hung out to dry in court here and elsewhere. Un-F-Believable!*

[trout4u]

Yes, its true that 90% of the world uses MS. That stat was true about 3 years ago or more. People are realizing the futility of windows every day. Macs run great, PERIOD. I have used windows for 10 years prior to switching to a Mac and believe me, I wouldn't go back if they paid me.

Apple is the most open ended software creator in the world, big guy. Just keep playing your video games on your $500.00 PLASTIC PC. We game DEVELOPERS will keep making your games on OUR Macs and taking YOUR money.

Cheers Mr jealous!!

[cabelaj]

What a cocky guy. Interesting how hes trying to tell apple what to do when yesterday. The emlpoyees microsoft layed off, now there asking money from THEM! They say they payed there employees to much and demanding money back. MY ASS! Sounds like microcrap! They spend more time worrying about getting that peice of shit company off the toilet and go someware with it.

[samrod]

Actually, I'm not sure what your definition of monopoly is but Microsoft does have a clear monopoly in the operating system market. It's when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it. Microsoft has not only been proven to have one, but was convicted of illegally abusing its monopoly in US federal court. From illegally preventing PC venders from selling computers with other OS's installed to killing Netscape, these actions would not have been illegal if not for the monopoly Windows enjoys in the marketplace.

When people criticize Microsoft and Apple for not being open, they're entirely different contexts. Microsoft rejects compliance with most open (or licensable) standards such as Java, XML, Javascript, CSS, OpenGL, GCC, and so forth because they inherently promote interoperability with competitors. As a monopoly, the company profits off lack of competition rather than letting the merits of its products stand on their own. It's interesting that in most areas where Microsoft has no monopoly and is forced to compete, it's a dismal failure.

Apple not only embraces and contributes to open standards, but develops a good amount of its own proprietary technology as well, some of which it's opened (WebKit, Bonjour, OpenCL) to others. Apple is closed in its control of the full vertical solution of tying its Mac hardware to its OS X operating system to its iLife, iWork, and Professional suite of applications. Apple's brand and quality is based on the fact that its software supports only its own hardware rather than every box out there. In fact, I'd say Apple is more open to developers than Microsoft because every Mac Apple sells, from the MacBook to the Mac Pro, includes a Developer Tools DVD with IDE's such as Web Objects, xCode, AppleScript Studio and so forth.