On Sun, 15 May 2011 04:02:04 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

Eric Stevens writes:

This is not an equivalent situation. Mac make their own computers and
operating systems. MS make only the operating systems.

In other words, Apple forces you to use both their hardware and their
software, a far more restrictive arrangement than anything Microsoft has done.
Apple doesn't force manufacturers to install its software simply because it
doesn't allow anyone else to manufacture its computers at all. You cannot
criticize Microsoft for agreements it has made with hardware vendors without
considering the much more anti-competitive policies practiced even today by
Apple.

As far as I know there has never been more than the one operating
system available for Apple. Your bought an Apple, you _needed_ the
Apple OS.

That has never been the situation with X86 machines. There has always
been a choice of operating systems for them. Microsoft took the line
with OEMs that if they wanted to install an MS operating system they
had to install it on all their machines. You could not get a machine
without an operating system.

Here you have cut out my original text and your reply. I have replaced
it.

2. Embedding lying error messages in MS software which activated when
the software was run on competing operating systems (e.g. DR-DOS).

Have you ever looked at the source code for large operating or application
systems?

Yes I have. What are you trying to say?

All operating systems and application software contain gadgets designed to
favor marketing ends, including time limits, feature disabling switches, and
the like.

But I know of no others which deliberately reported non-existent
errors to discourage users from using a competing OS. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR-DOS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARD_code


Have you ever worked for a large company at all?

Yes I have. What are you trying to say?

If you've worked for a large company, you know that they all work the same,
and Microsoft hasn't done anything out of the ordinary.

The fact that others might behave in the same way, and that you accept
it, doesn't mean that I can't dislike it.

You're also missing the elephant in the room, which is Apple.

That's changing the subject. In any case I'm not going to continue
discussing this with someone who chops around and deletes sections of
my post when answering it.

Regards,

Eric Stevens