Why I Support Microsoft

[Vladimir Z. Nuri]

my understanding of the current MS debate is not 
flawless-- it's got a lot of minutia that's hard to 
follow. however:

what TCM fails to mention is a basic point: MS signed an
agreement a few years ago or whatever that they would not
bundle their browser with their OS, win95. 

now MS is having second thoughts, and trying to weasel out
of the contract by setting up a system in which the consumer
is supposedly requesting the browser integration via the 
licensing agreement.

the Justice department is doing nothing but enforcing a contract
that MS itself signed. it seems pretty clear that MS is
breaching its own contract.

whether that contract was signed under duress, or the
Justice dept is unfairly targeting MS, are valid questions
but not wholly relevant to the current debate. if MS felt
it was being persecuted it should have mounted that defense
before it signed the contract on its own volition.

personally, I have said before: I think Gates is finding
that in todays business world, cooperation is as important
as competition. the new climate has been described as
"co-operatition" and other words. Gates has made many
enemies in his megalomaniacal rise to power.  

make no mistake-- if you read books that discuss the 
behind-the-scenes, under-the-rock, behind-the-superficial-pr
atmosphere of the company, the unmistakable conclusion is 
that Gates is something of a tyrant bent on world software
domination. he has very few friends, and those that he
might think are his friends are really just sycophants
who are afraid of him.

capitalism involves many freedoms. one of those freedoms
involves doing business with companies that one prefers,
not necessarily for rational reasons. i.e. if people
begin to hate MS and abandon their products even if they
are superior and priced better, that's within the system
to do so. I personally think this is increasingly happening.

there are also a lot of stories that Gates has stabbed
companies in the back in deals in which he is supposedly
"cooperating" or having "strategic alliances" with. this is
way beyond the initial IBM thing. these rumors, which 
probably have some grounding in reality,
will make his business more difficult and have already done so.

in particular, Bill's inability to cooperate is evidenced
in the company's clear-cut strategy of trying to undermine
Java. what's interesting is that his company could just as
easily make lots of money by embracing the standard, even
without owning it themselves. there's a lot of bitterness
being generated by their veiled opposition to it. programmers
are far from stupid.

Bill doesn't realize how few real friends he really has.
he has made the mistake of thinking that business and 
cooperation are mutually exclusive. he'll pay the price.