Haiku: BeOS Reborn

[Michael Haney]

On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 10:01 AM, Derek Broughton <derek at pointerstop.ca> wrote:
> Odd wrote:
>
>> Michael Haney wrote:
>
>>> IBM just couldn't compete with
>>> Micro$oft's marketing department
>>
>> Not only that, they couldn't compete with themselves. Back then, IBM
>> was divided in several units that competed internally. This meant that
>> IBM's own PC unit used Windows instead of OS/2. Talk about shooting
>> themselves in the foot.
>
> To be fair to IBM, that wasn't IBM's fault.  That was the US Department of
> Justice and anti-trust legislation, back when the DoJ actually had teeth and
> didn't just do big-businesses bidding.
>
>>> and the borderline illegal
>>> contractual agreements made with PC makers prevented them from
>>> offering anything else other than Win95.
>>
>> There was that too. But IBM's biggest problem was IBM.
>
> And yet when MS reached the same point, DoJ slapped them on the wrist and
> said "Carry on".
>

Yes, there is such a blatantly clear double standard going on in the
DoJ it isn't even remotely funny.  Micro$oft is still at it even today
with their shifty business practices, but who is it the DoJ is
investigating?

"Google".

Google is indeed big but even they don't have the same Overlord-like
influence that Micro$oft has on the computer industry.  If anything,
Micro$oft has gotten worse since Steve Balmer took over the reins from
Bill Gates some time ago.  Yet, the DoJ looks the other way and
chooses to go after Google.

I never understood what Steve Balmer's problem is with Google.
Micro$oft didn't have to compete with them at all, nor did the company
have a reason to.  They're a software company not a search business.
This is one example of Micro$oft trying to butt into other industries
and doing a mediocre job of it and causing chaos along the way.  They
did it with the Xbox and Xbox 360, which Micro$oft lost billions on
(mostly due the high failure rate of the 360), but has seen some
success with due to games like Halo.  They tried it with Windows Live,
where many of the services were pay services, and failing to get
people to fork out money for services Google offers for free most of
those Windows Live services that were once pay-only are now free.
Then there's Bing, which Micro$oft has gotten kudos for but some
serious issues have appeared (http://tinyurl.com/n2589u).

Oh, and don't get me started with the Zune.  Micro$oft thuroughly
screwed every vendor who supported their PlaysForSure DRM when they
released the Zune.  The player was ok, not great though, some people
like it, but to buy music in the Zune Marketplace you had to buy
points like on Xbox Live.  Also, the Zune Marketplace did not and
still doesn't have a library of music nearly as extensive as iTunes.
Then, there was the wireless sharing features which was crippled by
time-limited DRM which got applied to EVERYTHING including free
Podcasts and user-created home movies.  As of today the Zune has just
a 1.1% market share, an iPod killer it was not and never will be.

Thus, you see a pattern forming.  Its like the company can't stand
seeing another company being a success in a market they aren't
involved in.

What's next, Microsoft-brand soda?

NO WAIT ... HOLY CRAP!!!!
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/03/microsofts-lemo/

-- 
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
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