From Vlad Ze Nurdi, Who Still Doesn't Get It: (sigh. I don't usually reply point-by-point, but this calls for it)

: a company has a *reponsibility* to its customers. perhaps : you would care to deny that?? gates has a *responsibility* : to his customers. what is that responsibility? to create : products they want. to anticipate their needs. You speak of responsibility as if it was a total assimilation, and as if it was a given which is to be expected, now that they've dissolved everyone's resistance. Spineless. An individual, or the company which they have created, does not have the responsibility to customers, prior to having acquired customers, to supply them with heretofore unknown pleasures. They have all sorts of responsibilities which they create once they have obtained the support of customers, but not in advance. And even after they have established a client base, they do not thereby become burdened forevermore with the obligatory responsiblity to provide those users with their future desires, needs, and wants, which no one knew was possible until the Research Department announced its discovery. Joe Random cannot be accused of negligence from the fact that he didn't invent Linux or Unix or NT. He has no responsibility to create the new products that Random User wants, he is under no obligation to anticipate their needs, or be considered responsible for the fact that Random User is sitting in his darkened apartment with nothing to do, waiting for someone to offer him a java-enabled WebTV with 500 interactive channels, nor to be charged with ir-responsibility because he didn't realize that Random User doesn't have a life and constantly needs more entertainment and fresh updates to keep his eroding intellect occupied. : you, working at MS, and spouting the official company line : (and not identifying your affiliation, like : all corporate slaveminded robots) would have a hard time : grasping that. nice of you not to use your MS address <g> For the record, I have not worked at MS for a year. Furthermore, I am not addressing the quality of their products, but the error in proposing that one has a right to a claim to their future productivity for the benefit of Random User and All Cyberspace. : a web tv with java has had *extreme* interest from around : the country!! but MS is not merely not doing web tv with : java. they are sending out smoke signals that they will : do it one minute, but then SIT ON IT. So? If they decided to close up shop tomorrow, that would be their prerogative. They were not instigated by Government to produce products for you, products to bitch about for 1) being of low quality or for 2) failing to produce them fast enough to suit you. :thus cleverly preventing : any other companies from even thinking about it. as I understand it, : as early as 97 it was announced it would happen. this is a way : of STALLING, and pissing on a market. Did you ever see that bookcalled "The Other Guy Blinked"? I think it was about the Pepsi/Coca-Cola war where the companies were competing for a merger or something of the sort. One company got the deal because the other company did not respond fast enough, or something like that. That's the way it is in the market these days, in case you hadn't heard - speed is of the essence. If Microsoft is stalling, that is all the opportunity a computer shark needs to swallow that market segment by being there first and nabbing the eagerly-awaiting customer's business. And correct, no one will cry with sympathy that Microsoft was edged out of the lead. So what are these sharks waiting for? They can use their own judgement about proper market timing, they don't have to wait for Microsoft. They can make some profit/cost calculations and decide what risks to take. They have Business Analyst MBAs working in their Finance and Marketing departments, people with years of experience, getting highly paid to give them advice on these things. They can decide to work with Sun, instead. : so BW, what happens if another company does create itself : to solve this little problem? Then it's Microsoft's problem, isn't it. They'll have to get together over a latte' and figure out what to do about it. This is not an exceptional, out-of-the-ordinary situation. It's part of struggling in the highly competitive global world of technology. That's part of the work of doing business in the free-market: success is not pre-arranged by government and imposed by law upon the open-mouthed population (not quite yet, anyway). It's up to everyone to stay alert and pay attention. You blink, you lose. They know this. Question is, why you, who is not in the playing field, are so worried about it, in particular as you despise Billg and look forward to his demise. Jealous? :and in 2 years we actually : have a java type web tv??? well, would you apologize then?? Frankly, My Dear . . . it's not my responsiblity to worry about it. I don't get paid to agonize like you do for free. [. . .] : MS is getting too arrogant. you can call me whatever names : you want, but I know that they have hit the point of no : return. just recently. in fact, that's why I thought I : would announce it to ya'all <g> So have you morphed into the CyberCop of Attitude? Taking the world of software upon your keyboard-hunched shoulders? What in the world does Microsoft's stand have anything to do with your own experience of Life, the Universe, and Everything? I thought you preferred Linux, which is having a surge of interest and enlarged user base. And Unix - everyone likes Unix, why don't you focus on them instead? Why don't you exult over their superiority, or why don't you write to Sun Microsystems - they had the idea for the Net PC first, anyway, didn't they? It's their responsibility to carry through on it. Tell them they have the responsibility of supplying you *immediately* with their version of a net PC (with their Java, of course). And get a job. .. Blanc