All: Any thoughts on what the ex-Borlanders have been doing at
Microsoft for the last year (Anders, etc.)? Certainly Bill
didn't buy them just to slow BORL down...did I miss something?
Well, actually, Bill did buy them just to slow Borland
down. If you have been reading the press releases, you'll recall
that Borland finally filed a lawsuit against MS for unfair trade
practices, and this was one of the accusations. They settled out
of court, with MS paying unspecified damages.
Presumably MS has been picking their brains, to find out the
programming techniques that were used in Borland's competing
products, which were besting MS's products. That is the MS
way - copy every superior feature of a competitor's product,
put a few dozen or a few hundred programmers on it until, like
the proverbial monkeys at typewriters, by chance if not by talent
they get their code to run as fast as the competitor's code, then
use their size and market position to drive the competitor out of
business.
There's also the similar trick of offering some maker of an add-on
operating system product a chance at getting rich via licensing of
technology. Only trouble is, after the MS programmers have gotten
a look at the code during the negociations, the negociations fall
through, and a few months later MS has a similar product which
they just by chance have developed all on their own. Example:
remember "Stacker"?
These kinds of business practices is what makes some people think
that Bill has three sixes on his head. I just think he's amoral.
The ex-Borland programmers will probably have their brains sucked
out like the smart-bug victims in "Starship Troopers", then be
tossed aside. Nobody loves a traitor. |
