Listen us otherwise...MS is threathend
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Microsoft is an American company, the EU can go to hell. If the EU doesnt approve of the way they do things, they can make Microsoft stop doing buisness in Europe, not fine them. Bill Gates is running a legitimate buisness, and he has every right to do it the way he wants. If he doesn't want to let competitors copy his work, then that is his right. "When only the police have guns, it's called a Police State." -- modified at 11:29 Friday 23rd December, 2005
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espeir wrote:
Of course they would lose sales, and they would never do that because it's a huge market. But the fact of the matter is that companies avoid doing business in countries that are hostile to them (the same goes to US states). It's bad for the country (or state or whatever) when the government is not business-friendly, because it eventually reaches a point where the efforts are not worth the return. That's what is happening in much of Latin America.
So what you're saying is that they would never pull out of the European market, or maybe they would. I applaud your reasoning skills [golf clap]!
espeir wrote:
If they switch to open source or Apple (), they would suffer. Microsoft offers more than just "software" by existing. They offer a common platform that has become very high quality in recent years. That's extremely valuable from a business perspective.
Whether or not businesses decide to stick with the Microsoft platform depends on cost/benefit, keeping in mind that cost includes licensing and maintenance. Countries have to be business-friendly, but so does Microsoft. The home user has other considerations as well, such as malware, DRM trampling on fair use, and out-of-pocket cost. Other platforms address these concerns in different ways, and to differing degrees. Overall, for most businesses, Microsoft still has the advantage, but that could change. Most home users are better off buying a Mac.
espeir wrote:
And yes...if not for American technology, Europe would be 100 years behind what it is now. It's not our fault they've lost their intellectual edge.
I'm guessing you're not big on history, research, rational thought, or the right of neurons to assemble. Google "European inventions" sometime.
vincent.reynolds wrote:
Google "European inventions" sometime.
Be sure to use your computer (a US invention) connected to the internet (a US invention) to access Google (a US company) to find all those recent European inventions. ;P Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep.
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vincent.reynolds wrote:
Google "European inventions" sometime.
Be sure to use your computer (a US invention) connected to the internet (a US invention) to access Google (a US company) to find all those recent European inventions. ;P Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep.
Yeah, we kick major ass on the computer side of things :). Actually, our culture makes us very effective inventors overall. I was just pointing out to the troll that the USA didn't exactly pull Europe out of the dark ages.
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Of course they would lose sales, and they would never do that because it's a huge market. But the fact of the matter is that companies avoid doing business in countries that are hostile to them (the same goes to US states). It's bad for the country (or state or whatever) when the government is not business-friendly, because it eventually reaches a point where the efforts are not worth the return. That's what is happening in much of Latin America. If they switch to open source or Apple (:laugh:), they would suffer. Microsoft offers more than just "software" by existing. They offer a common platform that has become very high quality in recent years. That's extremely valuable from a business perspective. And yes...if not for American technology, Europe would be 100 years behind what it is now. It's not our fault they've lost their intellectual edge.
espeir wrote:
if not for American technology, Europe would be 100 years behind what it is now. It's not our fault they've lost their intellectual edge.
Let's see what I can come up with off the top of my head: * First public demonstration of Television by John Logie Baird. (Also, he came up with ideas and simple demonstrations for high definition TV, videos, video phone, and colour TV, but died in 1946 before the research could be furthered) * Robert Watson-Watt demonstrated the Detection and location of aircraft by radio methods - now known as Radar. * Alexander Fleming discovered Anti-biotics in the 1920s * John Shepherd-Barron, in the 1960s, came up with the concept of a self-service machine which would dispense paper currency with 24/7 availability. This was the Automated Teller Machine (ATM). And that is just the major stuff from my own little corner of Europe* in the last 100 years. Also, it is interesting that there seem to be an awful lot of Scots working at Microsoft. The SQL Server 2005 team have quite a few just to themselves. * Scotland, pop. 5 million
My: Blog | Photos "Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop in." -- Confucius
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vincent.reynolds wrote:
Google "European inventions" sometime.
Be sure to use your computer (a US invention) connected to the internet (a US invention) to access Google (a US company) to find all those recent European inventions. ;P Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep.
Mike Mullikin wrote:
computer
Remind me where Babbage (inventor of the first programmable computer) was from? And Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace? (inventor of the first programming language)
My: Blog | Photos "Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop in." -- Confucius
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Mike Mullikin wrote:
computer
Remind me where Babbage (inventor of the first programmable computer) was from? And Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace? (inventor of the first programming language)
My: Blog | Photos "Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop in." -- Confucius
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I was joking. Like Linus Torvalds is fond of saying "We all stand on the shoulders of giants." Better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep.
Mike Mullikin wrote:
Like Linus Torvalds is fond of saying "We all stand on the shoulders of giants."
Indeed - Wasn't it Sir Isaac Newton that first said that?
Mike Mullikin wrote:
sheep
There's another one - cloned sheep that it. The first cloned sheep was just outside Edinburgh, Scotland. Sorry, couldn't resist You can now see Dolly the Sheep in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh.
My: Blog | Photos "Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop in." -- Confucius
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Regulated competition is something of an oxymoron. Competition is all about taking risks in a free market. Besides, the more power government has to regulate competition, the more vulnerable it is to corruption from bribes. So government regulation is no more an assurance of fair competition than normal market regulation is. "Patriotism is the first refuge of a patriot." -- modified at 11:18 Friday 23rd December, 2005
Stan Shannon wrote:
Regulated competition is something of an oxymoron. Competition is all about taking risks in a free market.
You seem to pretend companies are virtuous, acting like angels...I don't think you are that candid, aren't you? From monopoly to illegal agreements to dumping, there are many ways to twist the competition. Without referee there can't be no fair game. The best way to avoid bribes is to pay government's agents enough to avoid them the temptation of corruption. Added to dissuasive penalties to both the 'corrupter' and the corrupted one.
Tiefe Wasser sind nicht still Fold with us! ¤ flickr