Re: Boycott Microsoft

In article <6jsd8c$nk$1_at_excalibur.flash.net>, "RRC" <honda_at_flash.net> wrote:

>If any of you are serious about boycotting MS, then you need to remove win95
>and any other MS programs from your computer. If not for MS, we would not be
>where we are today with any aspect of the computer industry, including the
>Internet. Every computer I have had, (4), I have had the option of setting
>the default browser. Even though Windows came with I.E., I was able to
>download Netscape for FREE, and set it up as my default browser. Quit
>jumping on the bash MS bandwagon, Bill Gates deserves every dollar he has
>earned.

The Internet, and it's popularization, owe _nothing_ to MS. They didn't invent any of the basic technology that runs it, or be on the forefront of the Internet wave. They are a latecomer in every respect, and focused on adding more cruft to the browser and calling it 'innovation'. Check the first two years after the Mosaic release, and be prepared to be amazed that Internet Mac market share was _larger_ than the Windows share, despite Windows have a much bigger share in the overall market. And, before you think that period is irrelevant, it's precisely because of the explosion of growth in those years, and the pages created by those enterprising souls, that the Internet continued to grow into what it is today. Microsoft wasn't a part of that at all. It's effect has been the tactics it uses to get ISP's to distribute IE and to use IE only tags on their pages. Netscape hasn't been an angel here either, it'd be better if they'd not been asses as well. Still, I really can't point to any Netscape invention that's causes this 'internet boom', other than slight improvements to the basic browser (most of the glitz isn't usefull enough to keep people around).

Bill Gates completely misscalled the popularity of the Internet (hence the move to make MSN). I'd like to hear what you think that MS has done in regards to the internet that has any significance.

I don't find MS particularly innovative, and certainly not on the Internet front. It's only recently that a bunch of old shareware apps on a Mac weren't loads better than anything offered on the MS side. It's been ~year since I really went looking, maybe things are better over there now. Hopefully IE integration and scripting in Win 98 will make some really good tools appear.

-- 
Ted Brown   tbrown_at_netset.com