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To: Harry Sharp who wrote (16862)	1/29/1998 8:47:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Rants, Harry? I'm deeply hurt. Well, I have said a few nasty things about Windows95 in my time, but, you know, I've had a few problems with it too. Mostly, I find Microsoft a continuing source of mordant amusement. Love 'em? Hate 'em? I think they need to be understood. I find the continual PR stream both the richest source of amusement and the least reliable source of knowledge about what's really going on. Congratulations on your long-term holdings. Now, if the next 8 years are as good as the last 8, what will Microsoft be worth? And how much will Microsoft have to control to get that big? Scary thought, but I think about that stuff too much, I admit. Cheers, Dan.

To: Harry Sharp who wrote (16862)	1/30/1998 8:33:00 AM
From: Doug Fowler	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 24154

Your experience with Microsoft reminds me of a problem I had with them about 9 months ago. I signed up for MSN Internet Service a little more than a year ago with them and found the service to be much more reliable than that of other ISPs. Very little down time and decent-speed connections. I signed up with them because they had just announced they were going to unlimited-use for $19.95 per month, with a 30 day, unlimited free trial. Well, I used them pretty frequently for a few months. The only reason I stopped using MSN as my ISP was because they did not offer 56K service. I switched to an ISP that supported x2. Well, about three months later, I received a bill for $450. I was being charged $2.50 an hour. I called Microsoft to fund out what was wrong. They said I had not signed up for the unlimted service. I said "hogwash", I signed up with the intent of using the $19.95 plan and my Internet habits showed that was my expectation. Why in the world would I use the limited plan and pay in two months what I would pay ffor 24 months on any other service. They were absolutely adamant. I asked why they didn't warn me that I was on the low-usage plan when they could obviously see I was a heavy user. They said that was not their job. I asked to speak to a manager who eventually gave me a call. Again, he was adamant. I ended up settling with them for $150, but I still feel I got screwed. I have always kept multiple Internet accounts, and in all cases, they have cost $19.95 per month. So I ended up paying for 7.5 months, even though I only used the service for two months. The arrogance at Microsoft is amazing.

To: Harry Sharp who wrote (16862)	1/30/1998 7:45:00 PM
From: Charles Hughes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

>>>I can very easily see now why Microsoft is so hated. I hate them myself and I'm still long the stock. Anyway my apologies for all the bad things I thought about the "ilk".<<< Somebody recently was accusing those of us in 'the Ilk', (which you now belong to:), of being 'liberals', which caused some debate, as you might imagine. In this MSFT context, to turn the old saw on its head, a liberal is a conservative who has been mugged by Microsoft. Cheers, and welcome to the Ilk conspiracy, Chaz P.S. "All bow to our Grand Poobah, Dan, the Ilk-Meister"