Invisible wrote:
> 1. Stealing other people's code and passing it off as their own.

I've only read of two instances where this was actually proven.  In the 
first case, it wasn't actually illegal due to poor wording in the 
license that MS signed with Apple, in the second case it was open code 
to begin with (the network stack from FreeBSD, I believe).

> 2. Deliberately subverting open standards to force vendor lock-in.

That's not illegal, and the vendors were never forced to use the MS 
extensions.

> 3. Forcing PC manufacturers to not to distribute anyone else's OS.

They didn't force anybody.  They signed agreements with manufacturers, 
and the manufacturers agreed to those contracts.

> 4. Lobbying for a ban on selling PC hardware without an OS.

Name me a big business that doesn't lobby the Government for stuff that 
will benefit them.  Not only is lobbying legal, but even encouraged by 
our system.

> 5. Releasing software for free just to put people out of business.

Wait, do you criticize Linus Torvalds for trying to put MS out of 
business by giving Linux away for free?  And what's the difference 
between MS selling a better product (and so putting other companies out 
of business) and MS selling a product for less (or even free) (and so 
putting other companies out of business)?

> 6. Announcing vapourware just to put people out of business.

Sure, they announced it, but you can be assured that if they thought 
they could make money by selling a particular piece of software they 
would have made it.  The fact that it ended up being cancelled means 
they didn't think it would be profitable.

Or would you rather force business to stick with out-of-date plans that 
they know will lose them money, just so they can claim "We stuck with a 
losing plan for 10 years straight?"

> 7. Threatening highly dubious legal action just to put people out of 
> business.

Again, MS is far from alone in doing this.

It sounds like your problem isn't with MS in particular, but with big 
business in general.


> ...but mostly I hate them because they charge extortionate prices for a 
> product which isn't actually very good. :-P

Nobody's forcing you to use it.  Why don't you use Linux instead?

-- 
Chambers

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