Are you all sure about the Evil Empire?

[MorganX]

I know most of you here hate Microsoft as a matter of fact, but are you sure?

Looking for remote control software for the Mac that would allow me to retire my PC to a corner with a Wireless-G NIC and no KV or M, I found one, for free, from guess who? Microsoft. Remote Desktop connection 1.0.1.

Furthermore, MSN for OS X look better than MSN for Windows. And I learn about animated desktop wallpaper in X from Mactopia.

I'm not sure Microsoft is the enemy. It will be interesting to see how the MSN Browser performs.

 

[timbloom]

Re: Are you all sure about the Evil Empire?

Originally posted by MorganX
I know most of you here hate Microsoft as a matter of fact, but are you sure?

Looking for remote control software for the Mac that would allow me to retire my PC to a corner with a Wireless-G NIC and no KV or M, I found one, for free, from guess who? Microsoft. Remote Desktop connection 1.0.1.

VNC is free, Timbuktu works better

And I learn about animated desktop wallpaper in X from Mactopia.

MacOSXHints.com, had it slightly before Jaguar was officially released.

I just use iChat and a cablemodem, and I am happier than I would ever be going through some other online service just to get to the web.

 

[Eniregnat]

I started off on a TI-84, then an Apple ][, Apple ][+, and GS. The I got stuped and thought that I needed a PC for college. I burnt through 12 laptops in a decade before I realized that my Apples were the most trouble free computers I have ever owned.

My father used his Apple ][+ until last year when it was stolen. (Very stupid- what is the value of an old Apple ][+.

Personally, M$ is not the “Evil Empire” because of its product line. What I don’t like is their poor customer service, general business practices, and constant anti-competitive behavior. They also over price their software suites. The only reason that people purchase their software, myself included, is its dominance and its versatility. Certainly it is not their licensing scheme, bugs, or lack of support. The more you sell the cheaper it should get, but they don’t see it that way.

My primary text editor is M$ office. It’s a good program on the Mac and rarely crashes on me. I like its interface better than AppleWorks and I can set my toolbars and templates up identically at work (PC and Mac) and at home (Mac).

 

[BWhaler]

Originally posted by Eniregnat
Personally, M$ is not the “Evil Empire” because of its product line.

While I agree with the overall sentinment of your post, don't underestimate the "evil empire" aspects of their software. MS on numerous occassions has been discovered to have built in spyware functions in their software. (Example: last week it was reported that their media player sends a list of every DVD you play with a unique ID for your machine. MS originally denied it, then switched their story to say they don't put names to the list, I believe.)

Also, to your point about anti-competitive behavior, they build their products to conflict with competing applications. Admitedly, this happens more on the PC side of the fence, but why would you let the fox in the hen house unless you need to. Most of us need to use Office to be compatible with our PC work buddies, but MSN is not critical path.

Vote with your wallet, I say. Spend your money encouraging competition, and as an added bonus, stay in control of your computer and information.

 

[cr2sh]

A buddy of mine messaged me the other day. He said "Hey, you ever use this spyware checking software?" I knew what he was talking about and politely pointed out that I use a mac and I trust Apple... its not a concern for me.

How many Microsoft users trust Microsoft?

 

[CrackedButter]

I was going to get VNC so i could use my legit office 2000 discs.

Now MS have VNC i will not be buying it and will be selling the office discs or give them to my gf...i will buy Apple applications instead or buy more Apple hardware.

I don't trust them because they simply cannot be trusted but then again i'm surprised businesses do trust them considering they were involved in a ANTI-trust case. Crazy stuff, nobody seems to care much though.

 

[PC Clone]

Spyware gets on your computer from other programs like Kazaa... I've never had a problem with Microsoft... it's just that there's so many companies and software in the vast PC world that there's no telling who might try to sneak some spyware on your comp... if Macs were popular enough they'd start having problems with things like that too...

 

[BWhaler]

Originally posted by PC Clone
Spyware gets on your computer from other programs like Kazaa... I've never had a problem with Microsoft... it's just that there's so many companies and software in the vast PC world that there's no telling who might try to sneak some spyware on your comp... if Macs were popular enough they'd start having problems with things like that too...

You are correct about programs like Kazaa, but the insidious problem with Microsoft programs is that the OS and included apps themselves also behave like Spyware. Here is a link to an article showing how their (non-removable) media player tracks the DVDs you watch.
http://www.itworld.com/AppDev/1471/...221mediaplayer/

The obvious problem here is you can't remove this spyware since it is part of the program itself, e.g. if Kazaa itself was spyware and you couldn't remove it from your system. To make matters worse, at least Kazaa tells you in their license agreement and in the install that these programs are being installed and they track you. Microsoft does not mention it anywhere...

This is only going to get worse with Paladium and their upcoming DRM controls...be happy to be a Mac person...

 

[timbloom]

Originally posted by CrackedButter
I was going to get VNC so i could use my legit office 2000 discs.

Now MS have VNC i will not be buying it and will be selling the office discs or give them to my gf...i will buy Apple applications instead or buy more Apple hardware.

I think you are thinking about VPC, not VNC. VNC allows you to do remote desktop abilities cross-platform on just about anything. While VPC is a virtual pc.

 

[PC Clone]

Originally posted by BWhaler
You are correct about programs like Kazaa, but the insidious problem with Microsoft programs is that the OS and included apps themselves also behave like Spyware. Here is a link to an article showing how their (non-removable) media player tracks the DVDs you watch.

Well I pirated his OS so we're even

 

[janey]

M$ is the evil empire...
and mac users make the microsoft mac software you're using. that's why it's so much better than the crap that windows users *cough almost all of microsoft's employees cough* write and publish.

 

[MrMacMan]

Acually I remember there was spyware finding kit for mac os X...

Must find where...

 

[Nipsy]

Microsoft hardware is really good.

Microsoft MacBU software is pretty good.

Microsoft software for Intel is garbage.

They push mediocrity to the widest audience, which is fine by me.