I agree that Excel is, without a doubt, a fine product. In my opinion, the rest of their product line is not of the same high quality.
However, I do have a significant problem with a company which uses its position to perform the kind of leveraging that Microsoft does. I believe that the company is unethical when it places unnecessary restrictions on its operating system. They changed the licensing language between version 3.51 and 4.0 of NT Workstation to restrict the number of incoming connections to 10. When asked about this, they stated that the Server and Workstation code was different and that users should not use Workstations to run Webservers such as WebSite and Netscape Enterprise. The statement was made that "#ifdef" statements were used to generate different versions of NT. Technical people took them to task for this statement and proved that the "Workstation" Version could be changed to the "Server" Version by simply changing one Registry Entry. It even booted up stating that it was the Server Version. When 4.0 came out, two Registry Entries had to be changed.
The point here, is that Microsoft, appears to be using its monoply to illegally compete with other companies. When Microsoft did not have a monopoly in Office Suite Software, the price of their software was much more competitively priced. Now that they control 90+% of the Suite market, they are maximizing their profits. I'm not stating that what they did in the Suite Market was illegal... But I am saying that what they are trying to do with respect to the Internet Market appears to be anti-competitive behavior and is illegal.
Their dealings in the Pen based Windows market is another example of Microsoft's tactics which border on the fringes of legality. They essentially put the "GO" operating system out of business. There's a book written by the owner of "GO" which documents the entire story.
These are some of the reasons why I despise Microsoft. There is no jealousy involved, just questionable business practices.
I owned some Microsoft Stock but sold it because I could not ethically support this rogue company in any way that I do not have to. As to Microsoft products I own: Excel, Windows/NT 4.0, DOS 5 and Windows 3.1. Since I worked with computers for a living for nineteen years programming them, et. al, I have to live with Microsoft Products, but I certainly don't like them.
I feel the design for implementation of additional products with a single file for the Registry is an extremely poor design. I feel that merging the browser into the operating system is a recipe for disaster from a security point of view. That is one of the major reasons why the company I work for is using the Netscape browser instead of Microsoft's which is "free". |
