Settling would not have resulted in 200 billion dollar haircut and it's asinine to suggest that. Sales two or three years ago were, what, 12 billion annually? So tell us what fraction of that might have been exposed had there been an agreed upon settlement, up to and including no admission of guilt? Strike that, what portion of that do you content would have been sued for in the event Microsoft was deemed guilty? Having done that, please explain how your case is helped by a lengthy, carful legal process that concludes by stipulating that Microsoft has in fact been violating the law. Nobody will give a rat's whisker that it is under appeal should they launch a lawsuit. Finally, prepare to have more air taken out of your stock as Microsoft intentionally protracts this process, fighting it tooth and nail.
Lemme sum it up for you, bub: Microsoft broke the law six ways from Sunday and everybody but Bill Gates, his cronies and you accepts that. I resent Microsoft's tactics. Let's take one simple example. The functionality for a home-use and/or small business Wordprocessor was complete 10 years ago. They had 100% of what people need out of a tool like that and it should cost $20 to $40, no more. Anything else could have been added externally, as an integrated option. Now they charge upwards of 90% of the cost of a brand new computer, just for the office suite and the OS itself. Up from, what, 5% or less?
Instead of making lower-cost, lighter leaner but equally effective software by honing the already complete feature set, Microsoft kept making the system larger, slower and more expensive. They take every advancement in technology, from memory to CPUs to disk drives, and bring them to their knees. Microsoft has single-handedly destroyed our ability to enjoy the benefits of machines that are an order of magnitude faster, yet now run slower than ever.
They claimed to have forgotten to make one version compatible with the previous, and you believed them. They claimed that downloading private information on your system, even when you specifically told them not to, was a bug, and you believed them. The office product costs upwards of 90% of the price of a brand new computer, don't try and justify that.
They put a browser in the OS with feigned concern for the consumer, yet you can't even check spelling in outlook if you don't have Microsoft Office. So why don't they supply those tools for use by all applications? Because they want to squeeze more cash out of you, that's why. For crying out loud Gary, go tell your fairy tales to somebody else. |
