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Microsoft Anti Competitive Behaviour
Microsoft has always been the best friend of the programmer, in fact when compared to the likes of Apple or IBM it looks like they're in another entire business altogether. Just what has gotten into the minds of the morons up in the EU who seem to beconvinced of Microsoft’s dastardly plans like some moronic Linux fanboy?


What’s even more disgusting is the fact the EU is charing Microsoft with the same behaviours companies like Apple make an actual business model out of. Microsoft is being asked to reveal its 'secrets' to allow third party developers to better compete with them on their own OS.

The very fact Microsoft provides an avenue for third parties to effectively compete with them is simply amazing, since when has Apple ever provided as much raw developer support as Microsoft has? Is it that Microsoft is dominating the industry that they get all this unfair treatment? By that line of thought we should start punishing every company that establishes market dominance in any field.

Microsoft has always made it clear that they have the developers interests in mind more so than their own. It's simple logic, when developers make great software for the Windows platform more people buy Windows. The reasoning for this rulling is based on a complete fallacy, since when could developers not be able to compete with Microsoft because they didn't know 'Windows secrets'?


We have some excellent third party software, many of which people would argue runs better than Microsoft products, and none needed the oh so mysterious 'windows secrets' to run. For instance if you look at computer games, you find that Microsoft actually makes them for Windows and XBox. Interestingly enough Microsoft does not produce the highest rated titles. In fact Microsoft Games developers are given the same resources as any other developer. There is no vast conspiracy, no hiddten technology or secrets that gives Microsoft an edge when developing software. Yet it would seem the EU is convinced.

This is no more than a carefully collaborated conspiracy by the EU to destroy Microsoft. When companies like Apple or IBM can do the exact something as Microsoft has and get away with it you know there’s something going on. Perhaps, like a certain other anti-competitive case filed Microsoft, we have Microsoft competitors in the backgrounds pulling the strings. Trying to take the company down through political means. Kind of difficult to do otherwise.

When it comes down to it all the EU has actually ruled that Microsoft is legally required to help its competitors even if it means Microsoft will lose a lot of its own technolog in the process. It would appear that already helping its competitors develop software for its operating system (which has without a doubt been the reason Windows has gained such popularity) isn't enough, now they have to let them see their source code and trade secrets (that are otherwise irrelevent to the 3rd party developer). What next? Will Microsoft be legally obliged to debug their competitor’s code?
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Firefox is Proof Open Source is Failing

September 16th 2007 09:12
The general consensus is that the open source isn't gaining traction is because Microsoft is doing what it needs to from a business standpoint to buy out/take hostage the consumer. However the massive popularity of Firefox is proof enough that this simply can't be the case.

When it comes down to it all you just have to look at it in perspective. Every Windows machine ships with a copy of Internet Explorer for free, yet consumers are actively finding and download Firefox. What of Word Processing software? People pay money for Microsoft Office, and it sure isn't cheap, it doesn't even necessarily come with every Windows PC and additional components will invariably cost more (such as Excel, PowerPoint, etc).

Yet we have 'Open Office' which is the Open Source communities answer to Microsoft Office. Totally free and comes with everything Microsoft Office does, not to mention has basically copied Microsoft Offices interface meaning there is nothing alien about moving between one and the other.

Common arguments such as 'Microsoft is willing to break laws and pay fines' or 'dump products' is absolute rubbish, the Open Source community is so full of itself that they have all but forgotten that good products is what sells and that laying blame on Microsoft is not going to make any real progress. Microsoft competes, if that means 'dumping' then so be it.

If Linux is free and the Chinese people may use Linux simply because it’s free Microsoft has every right in the world to say 'hey what the hey, I'm going to sell Windows for $3 in China to effectively compete with Linux. I’ll also invest heavily in the IT industry in China so that Chinas software industry can grow and thrive'. Not just Microsoft, many companies invest in developing nations, they invest to compete, it’s a game of chicken, the more you invest the bigger the turn back but the bigger the risk. Who benefits from all this rabid investing most? The Chinese people.

Microsoft Research and Development Lab in China
Microsoft Has Invested Heavily in China's Software Industry

Is dumping so wrong? That the Chinese in their whacko market get access to $3 Windows others pay $300 for? It's just the way things work, the way different economies work. Microsoft wants to establish a foothold in China because China is developing into a major software developer. In the same way IBM has always been investing millions of dollars in Linux Microsoft is investing millions in its own software, as a company must do.

So what of Microsoft 'cheating'? If Microsoft’s cheating (assuming its happening) is directly affecting Open Source softwares ability to compete then Firefox should have bombed. Like most other Open Source applications it should have started with massive hype and just ended there. Yet it didn't, why? Because it's a damned good piece of software, one of the few that can effectively compete with something you might want to pay for.
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Some claim Microsoft is using India as a testing ground to release a general OEM Microsoft PC (much like Apples ridiculously over priced range of Macs) but to me it screams of 'teaching impressionable young *Indian* kids to use Windows computers'.

The technology behind these education focused PCs is great, it allows for multiple mice to be connected to the one computer which obviously instantly multiplies the usability of any one PC by the number of mice it has. Unfortunately the computer itself seems to only have room for one display, so there will be a lot of multicoloured cursors on the monitor.

Microsoft's research group developed some sample instructional programs, including software that displays multiple cursors in different colors on the screen, Toyama said. Other tools include a utility that keeps track of how each student does on an instructional program. The group also developed a voting mechanism that lets students switch to a different PC application only if the majority of them click their mice in favour, Pawar said.

Source
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Depending on which end of the fence you're on you can see this as yet another evil attempt by Microsoft to take over the world or that Microsoft is simply tired of having users stuff up their operating system because they don't update. On the other hand it could just as well be have been a lazy programmer forgetting to include there is an update being downloaded.

The 'update' itself is small and centers around the actual Windows Update feature. While people have already started accusing Microsoft of acting immorally I believe the reasoning behind it is simple. First of all, Microsoft is under no obligation to inform users it has upgraded the software but it does so anyway. Secondly, the reason for this update seems to have been centered around the update software itself and nothing else


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I find it strange how Microsoft’s bid to create a new standard for document formats is causing the Open Source community to respond with empty claims and false accusations. It sure isn’t that different to how Microsoft was acting not too long ago in regards to supposed Linux patent violations.

So what is OOXML? For the uninitiated it is a set of standards set up by Microsoft to allow documents to be portable across the board of software. It’s nothing new, even Open Office has had its document type standardized by the ISO
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Another one of those bugs that could only be found on a Windows operating system, given how many people actually use it finding absurd errors in it becomes the norm rather quickly. So whats the latest?

Well Windows Vista prioritizes media playing to ensure it's always smooth irrespective of the load on the computer. Anyway, this bug is related to this system Vista uses to play media, basically if you have a 1GB NIC and a 1GB networkand another interface running on the same computer if you play Music on it and try to transfer files between PCs through the network you lose about 20% of the bandwidth


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Apples latest iWork 08 suite supports loading and writing to Microsofts own standard OOXML formats. Big deal? No, not really, you have to support a format that has a good chance of becoming an industry standard. This format is already supported in Microsoft Office 2007.

So why is it embarrasing for Microsoft? Because MS Office for OS X does not support OOXML. Big deal? You might think so, except for the fact the last Mac Office from Microsoft was released in 2004 and the next one isn't due until 2008


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Apple Lies - Again

June 13th 2007 04:27
Somehow, someone will blame this on Bill Gates *but* what the hell? Wired decided to do its own benchmarks for Safari versus IE7 and Firefox and in typical fashion Apples marketting machines deception shown through.

Apple Safari VS Firefox

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When Firefox 2.0 was released it met an extremely warm reception, as if Internet browsing took an evolutionary step up the tech ladder. Though no one cared to look at IE7, it was branded the bastard son of a goat and cow before it ever was released.

I admit I never have actually used IE7, until just two days ago. Having installed Vista on a seperate partition I was worried it would be difficult to move all my work over, especially with rumours circulating of all the bugs and evil souls hidden behind Vista's pristine graphics


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Windows Vista

May 11th 2007 14:21
My desktop has never been so bare, thanks to the really helpful 'app launcher' gadget I installed on the side bar,

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Animated Cursor = Vista's Suicide?

March 31st 2007 01:32
Isn't it amazing when an operating system is so secure that the only way to make it vulnerable would be through deliberate tampering with the system by the end user, from the article,

However, despite these mitigations, Windows Vista is very much vulnerable to attacks. In the video embedded at the bottom, you will be able to see Craig Schmugar, virus research manager with McAfee, send Windows Vista into a perpetual "crash-restart" loop by simply dragging a malformed .ani file to the operating system's desktop.

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Vista Not High End Gaming Ready Yet

March 14th 2007 14:01
As cool as Vista is (yes I said it's cool) it simply isn't ready for high end gaming, not Microsoft's fault, just that third party hardware manufacturers haven't been making good with the drivers. We have this really strange situation with Windows Vista, while middle range computers and even low end computers can run it, high end computers actually can't.

Dell is smarter than to pre-install Vista on a high end PC, everyone else should be just as smart


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Back during the days of Windows XP you'd have to get an elaborate piece of software that would take screenshots from video's in individual frames since the PrtScn key didn't catch the screen for video's playing on almost all media players.

However with Vista that seems to be a thing of the past


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Vista's Superior Security

March 11th 2007 14:11
I am absolutely awed at how amazing Vista's security is, I cannot believe how well it can protect my personal files from other people who may be using the same computer.

Amazing Vista Security
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