Re: FW: MS's response to Nader

[Paul Crowley <paul@hedonism.demon.co.uk>]

  On Fri, 14 Nov 1997, Louis Proyect wrote:
  > >If I go into a Ford dealer those fascists sales people keep trying to 
  > >convince me that Ford's are the best cars made, darn them.
  
  > It's too bad they don't teach American history any more. Henry Ford was a
  > great admirer of Adolf Hitler and used goon-squads to beat up unarmed
  > workers. The big difference between Gates and Ford is that the software
  > monopolists can afford to pay much higher wages since the labor
  > productivity of computer programmers is much higher.
  
  No, the big difference is clearly that Gates is not a fascist and has
  never hired goon squads or otherwise used violence to promote his business
  interests.  While Microsoft's current power in the market, and their use
  of it, is a Bad Thing, they aren't Nestle (third world baby milk), Union
  Carbide (Bhopal) or even Exxon (Valdez).  They aren't British American
  Tobacco or Rio Tinto Zinc, or the Mafia.  While I'm sure that the stress
  of having to use NT every day doesn't do my health any good, it's hardly
  like smoking or BSE-tainted beef.  And it's not like driving a car that'll
  kill you if you crash in it. 
  
  I'm very keen to see some unity and organisation among the rest of the
  software industry to do something about Microsoft's encroaching shadow,
  and I'm not keen to see Bill thrown absolute power in this market through
  ownership of the only operating system with a future.  But I'd like to try
  and keep some perspective.
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