This really pisses me off....

I came across this article in the NY Times today, and it quiet frankly pissed me off. 99.9999% of the businesses operating in the world today have so much competition that they have low margins, usually in the neighborhood of 15 to 25% (estimate). Microsoft, however, is an alarmingly different story. Their margins from the Windows division are 85% ...an astronomical figure in anyones book. To put this in perspective using numbers filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), M$ had $2.89 BILLION dollars in sales of its Windows products (XP, 2000, ME), of which $2.48 BILLION was PURE PROFIT. They took a product that cost them $410 million to produce and resold it for $2.98 billion. They RIPPED OFF every consumer, every enterprise, every government agency that they dealt with, bar none, all because they have an illegal monopoly. I don't have the Office numbers in front of me at the moment, but they basically reflect the same obscene pattern of consumer rape that is evidenced in the Windows numbers. Judge Penfeild was right...this monster needs to be broken up, and until it is WE (with the exception of th *nix and mac folks) are the ones who have to pay the price.

NOTE TO BILL: I realize that you have a RIGHT to make a profit....but if you insist on SCREWING me, you could at least give me a kiss every once in a while, and it would be nice if you spent some of your billions on vaseline too.

but you realize that they lost money in almost every other division over at MS right? I dunno... it's all about capitalizm. It's what the market will support right now. One day MS will crash back down though.




El Diablo

Quote:

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Originally posted here by El Diablo
but you realize that they lost money in almost every other division over at MS right? I dunno... it's all about capitalizm. It's what the market will support right now. One day MS will crash back down though.




El Diablo

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Oh yeah, I realize that is true, but given that I don't use MSN, Great Plains software, Windows CE/Mobility, etc., I tend to object PAYING for them anyway. My opinion is that if you are going to be a software vendor, then be a software vendor. If you want to be an ISP then great, be an ISP. But if you want to be both, then make each pay its own way. How would you feel if you had to pay an extra 20 grand for a Buick just because Chevrolet isn't turning a profit?

funny that you use that analogy... because most of the time you are paying that exta 5-6k because of the failing arms of GM. Look at Oldsmobile and Pontiac as examples. They were floated for YEARS by GM by turning a profit on their other lines and sinking that money in to Olds and Pontiac for R&D :)


But I understand your point, just I don't think there is anything to really be upset about. If you don't like the fact that MS is turning a huge profit in one of their divisions the only way to let them know it is to stop purchasing their products.



El Diablo

easy, id buy a pontiac 70 GTO Judge =) hehe, soory its off topic buut anyway i see his point, they do charge to much, Windows XP for example, 300 dollars for the full version of pro....thats not cool, id say around 200 maybe 150 dollars would be a better price, i heard somewhere that they give win95 away on the website microsoft.com but im not to sure about that, can anyone imagine if they still marketed XENIX? there UNIX flavor before they went to dos...well, bought dos. and 500 dollars for office XP is a bit XPensive too but i need it and i use it alot in college, its really nice but that price could be cut a bit too. i think if they could release an OS with the support for games and hardware and ease of use that windows 98SE has and have more reliability like windows2,000 and UNIX and Linux and be secure like that to, they could price that however they wanted and id buy that, because i like 98SE it serves its purpose and lets me do what i need to get done and honestly doesnt crash that often...well for me anyway, but if they could keep that GUI and give you a choice to use the ones in 2,000 and XP (kinda like a theme) and have better sopport and reliability and stay stable i think theyd have a way better reputation, cause it seems to me if you want to play games go for 98SE, just about every game is supported on that but 2,000 wont play very many, and also increase the ability of plug and play they wouldnt need a monoploy, because i myself and many others would prolly love to be able to plug it in and its recognized right away and just add drivers from the cd or even better have most common drivers already included and have Ofiice XP come with it. can you imagine how great this could be? ok iv been rambling on and on so im gunna give mty idea hrer in plain easy to read format:
Windows XX:
loads faster,
more reliable
can be left on for years without needing a reboot,
as soon as a peice of hardware is plugged in its recognized and installed,
very secure, doesnt allow the spread of viruses by asking you if things can access certain devices (almost like a built in firewall)
very compatible with games and software (sorry but id love it if you could run MACOSX and UNIX and Linux and beOS things in windows sometimes,
complete Office XP suit included,
stability is a huge issue, id want true memory protection,
and not having to reboot after an install is a good thing,
include drivers for most hardware devices,
a complete development tool kit (Linux does it for free why can they?)
Video and multimedia software (gotta compete with MAC people)
the option to use a GUI or a command line (some people like both like i do and some hate typing and some hate graphics lol)
a web server included,
ok im prolly pipe dreaming but if these things came together id buy it in a heartbeat. sorry for making such a long post guys but i wanted to get out my ideas.

Microsoft is what it is,an OS that crashes alot and for the most part isn't worth all the money that they (MS)
charges you for it.I personally use linux (SuSE) and can honestly say that since the first day that I bought
my computer home (3 years ago)one of the first things that I did was format and install linux and I have yet
to have 1 single crash or any software problem at all with linux.I found myself now after 3 years with linux
having to learn M$ system only because I had to in order to pass my M$ cert.
Alot of people dont care much for M$ company and Bill Gates but you have to give that man his props
because of what he has managed to do with his company,alot of big companys dont play fare and never will.
It's a world that's all about money and you dont get to the top by being Mr.nice guy,you only get stepped on and over.Do you think that Donald Trump or any other whealthy buisness person male or female got where they are today by being nice ?.If you do then I want to sell you a bridge.
It's all about the benjamins and it always will be,it's a have and have not world and say what you want about Bill Gates but you must also say that he has what we all want.I think he earned every bit of what he's acomplised and that in it of itself deserves some respect.No one gave him M$,he built that up from scratch and I dont think that anyone government or whomever has the right to tell him how to run his buisness.
Bottom line is that if you dont like M$ then dont buy the product,what better way to protest than buy not putting money in Bills pocket.

Sincere

dhej looks at his Macintosh PowerBook w/ MacOS X 10.2.2 and smiles.

Then looks at M$ Office X and frowns.

Then looks at M$ IE and scowls.

Then looks at AIM and barfs, but for a different reason all together.

Unfortunately I bought Office 98, got a free (legal!) upgrade to Office 2001, and then upgraded to Office X. So I actually have paid like 4-500 dollars for Office X.

Just don't make me think of how much of my money M$ got from me for my PC..., though once I get it back from my Mom and my Sis it is turning into a Linux box so that I can once again sleep soundly.

dhej

Linux...the other white meat.

Yeap,
and also the free stuff that comes with it !
On the other hand could you imagine being a sysad for a whole network and having to exlain why there are multi processes running for real on the*nix box to all the commercials ? lol

Now I realy don't understand why microsoft is so against illegal copying of their software.
Even with the illegal copying (free advertisment if you ask me) they manage to make a 85% margin...

Well, not off of my back.. I have a 100% free system, dualbooting OpenBSD and Linux and have no intentions what so ever to switch back.

The only windows I use is on my parent's box (came with XP pro installed) and at work (98SE)