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[FWD]: my thoughts on MS and the DoJ



  To: Members of the Appraising Microsoft List:
  
  Happy Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan [coming on Dec 31] and Christmas Eve eve
  and Happy Winter Solstice to All!
  
  This was sent to me by my "best internet friend" Jorah Lavin..Thought it
  on-topic here.The author [fully documented at the bottom of the
  post,including info about the list where it was posted ..webdesign-l] is
  Steven Champeon <schampeo@hesketh.com>
  
  For your information and any discussion....
  
  You can also reply to the author directly at the address given above
  
  Heather
  ============= begin forwarded message ========================
  
  >I've started to write several different messages over the last few
  >weeks, trying to summarize my thoughts about the case, it's specifics,
  >the wider implications, and what I hear my friends and other folks
  >saying about everything.
  >
  >Now that the contempt hearing has been scheduled, and Jesse Berst has
  >come out saying that it will be better for MS and everyone if MS loses
  >the suit (because it will make them underdogs again, or some such vapid
  >nonsense) I feel like I'm ready to talk about it. I'll try to keep it
  >short, so we can get some discussion going.
  >
  >Here's what I think:
  >
  > 1) government interference (especially uneducated gov't interference)
  >    in the free market is wrong. However, it happens all the time, so
  >    it may as well be fair. I don't think it is fair for the DoJ to
  >    decide what MS can put into its OS. However, it is even less fair
  >    of MS to be developing the OS and apps with such a transparent
  >    line between them, and hiding behind one or the other side when
  >    they are challenged. ("It's a browser. It's an OS. It's a browser.
  >    It's just an icon, the rest are DLLs.") It gets annoying when its
  >    done in advertising. It faces contempt charges when it is done in
  >    court.
  >
  > 2) the MS/Netscape browser war is killing all of us. As Jeffrey Zeldman
  >    has pointed out on another list, IE and NS have horribly broken CSS
  >    implementations, and continue to cost us money to do what we need to
  >    be able to do. Let's focus on the core capabilities and stop spending
  >    so much time fussing over the useless crap like "push". There's a
  >    bug in Netscape Nav 3+ whereby a textarea can only contain 30,000
  >    characters. It's been there for more than a year. Why? Netcaster
  >    and an ugly GUI redesign took precedence.
  >
  > 3) the XML issues looming on the horizon are going to make the MS/DoJ
  >    suit look like a walk in the park. We're all going to get screwed,
  >    and we're not going to enjoy it. If MS embraces XML and makes it into
  >    a proprietary file format, we may as well go back to typewriters.
  >
  > 4) MS deserves to spend eternity in Hell (or whatever your favorite
  >    Place of Eternal Punishment may be) for its insistence on screwing
  >    with the conventional terminology associated with anything it steals
  >    from other companies or groups. If MS had its way, the Internet (of
  >    which little is actually run on Microsoft tools) would have been
  >    called the "Microsoft Network". If Teledesic happens, it may yet.
  >    The Explorer icon in Win95? "The Internet". Bookmarks? "Favorites".
  >    By confusing the distinction between local and network files and
  >    local and network services, MS makes it harder for the professional
  >    and amateur alike to know where their content is coming from, and
  >    for that matter, where it is going. CIFS is a great example of this.
  >
  > 5) The current flap over the meaning of "installed" vs. "uninstalled"
  >    is going to be interesting. If it goes the way I think it probably
  >    will, MS will get away with being able to leave 99% of MSIE installed
  >    with Win95/Win98, and users will be able to switch back and forth
  >    between having an icon on their desktop or not. This makes it hard
  >    for Netscape to compete, especially with the 20+MB downloads. I
  >    wonder how the defense is going to deal with this - essentially,
  >    the appearance or disappearance of an icon on the desktop is a very
  >    different matter than that raised by the ease of installation issue.
  >
  >    Put in perspective: it would be the same as having a Netscape Navigator
  >    shortcut on the desktop removed from or returned to the desktop
  >    whenever the user "installed" or "uninstalled" it, while leaving the
  >    .exe files around. Will MS now have to come up with a new term to
  >    refer to "uninstalling and actually removing the files"? I know for
  >    sure we will, as administrators and users. But will they?
  >
  >    I think I'll uninstall Windows95 on my laptop by choosing a new
  >    desktop graphic that looks like the Mac Finder. What do you think?
  >
  > 6) If Microsoft did as much thinking about the strategic importance of
  >    keeping its OS and applications separate as it does about the nature
  >    of the desktop market and protecting its delicate position at #1,
  >    they wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. I'm inclined to
  >    think that the Windows folks are thinking too much like Macintosh
  >    programmers and not enough like UNIX programmers. This is what has
  >    ruined the Macintosh, among other things... Not enough abstraction
  >    protecting the hardware from the OS from the apps.
  >
  > 7) Watch the Sun/Intel deal - this is where Intel breaks with MS as a
  >    sole supplier of the Intel-based OS (I think Linux has a place in
  >    this but not at the consumer market level or the corporate level,
  >    which for some reason wants to pay for everything. Free is not
  >    acceptable.) Andy Grove isn't stupid. Even more interesting is
  >    what happens to PowerPC if Intel and Sun team up.
  >
  > 8) Rhapsody stands a chance if it can be written to support FAT and
  >    NTFS filesystems as well as Mac HFS and transparently provide file
  >    services, robust Web/ftp services, and db/print/fax services for
  >    Win95/Win3.1 clients. And I think it can. I'm hopeful.
  >
  > 9) We are looking at what may be the fall of Microsoft, although I
  >    suspect it began when Win95 came out. They topped the charts with
  >    Win95 - NT has so far been a boring also-ran, despite the eager
  >    move to NT from UNIX made by some zealous (if not technically
  >    minded) executives. If you can't hearts-and-minds the IT staff
  >    and other folks who have to work with and support the OS, the best
  >    people leave and your overall quality suffers. I strongly believe
  >    this and have seen it over and over again. NT is dead, except when
  >    introduced into Novell-only shops. And if Novell can turn it around
  >    at least well enough to keep its market share (doubtful) NT is
  >    dead there, too. There are too many CNEs out there.
  >
  >That's the current contents of my head. I welcome discussion. Please
  >tell me if I'm wrong, why, and how it affects your future as a Web designer
  >or site architect or even as a user of computers for work or pleasure.
  >
  >Steve
  >
  >
  >--
  >Steven Champeon               | Go n-ithe an cat thú, is go
  >http://hesketh.com/schampeo/  | n-ithe an diabhal an cat!
  >http://a.jaundicedeye.com     |       - Gaelic curse
  >
  >+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
  >     more info about webdesign-l: http://www.hesketh.com/lists/
  
  ========== end forwarded message ==================================
  
  
  
  
  ================ Don't Believe Everything You Think ========================
  
  Heather Wimberly Beech,A.I.A.
  Wimberly Architects
  tobeth@lava.net
  
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