4 ms·

Microsoft is acting in its best interests. By giving away that software, it means that those startups might use it rather than Linux. So, when they become lar

by mdasen 18y ago

Microsoft is acting in its best interests. By giving away that software, it means that those startups might use it rather than Linux. So, when they become larger, Microsoft gets money from them. As someone who works at a non-profit, we get Microsoft stuff for next to nothing. It means that everyone who comes through our IT department gets familiar with MS stuff and prevents FOSS from getting as much of a foothold due to cost concerns.

tialys 18y ago
I understand your viewpoint, but at some point you have to realize that some applications would simply be easier/better to create on this stack. If you're stuck in a Windows company looking to create a startup on the web, the barriers to entry just dropped dramatically. I can't say I like it, but it's still going to help grow the industry and lead (hopefully) to more startups and better products.
- nailer 18y ago
  Except a lot of internet software has second-rate installations and support for Win32.
socratees 18y ago
Like RMS said, its like giving free packs of cigarettes to children till they get addicted. And then its done. Why don't people recognize the evil?
- tomjen 18y ago
  Because unlike cigarettes nobody dies, and a company (thankfully) has the right to make money.
  - alecco 18y ago
    It is hard to make a simil with addiction without having other connotations. Microsoft is a platform made on purpose to be incompatible with anything else and actively trying to keep you hooked and paying. That is the point, not death.
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
  - zvikara 18y ago
    My father died from BSOD, you insensitive clod!
  - trezor 18y ago
    and a company (thankfully) has the right to make money. That you actually have to point this out on a site largely populated by people running startups is pretty sad.
    - mattmaroon 18y ago
      That's actually the only place you'd have to point this out.
    - nailer 18y ago
      He doesn't have to point it out. RMS' issue isn't that Microsoft make money. It's the way in which they make it. Similarly, I support and enjoy capitalism yet that doesn't mean I support Rockefeller murdering his competitors.
  - jodrellblank 18y ago
    Dreams die.
- greyman 18y ago
  Because it is not evil. Microsoft offers quality software for a good price, and the total cost of ownership is not that high. What I like about Microsoft is, that even if it's a mammoth and are not able to innovate as quickly as Google for example, they are still able to improve their software and iterate towards a useful set of products.
  - alecco 18y ago
    I beg to differ, their software is not quality and not a good price in the long run. * Microsoft products are a nightmare to maintain, just one thing to show is the amount of reboots required for most updates, including just applications or services. * IE is a nightmare not just for users but for web developers, they destroy everybody else's standardization attempts. * IIS is another standards and performance nightmare, and they killed all other commercial competitors with a dirty war of licensing and hard limiting their software (Workstation vs. server) by undocumented configuration. * Outlook/Exchange are incompatible with almost anything out there. [Edit: and some of their worse in performance!] * Microsoft Office is not just incompatible, but Microsoft actively sabotages any attempt by third parties to make a standard (last month half of the Office Open XML board quit in protest.) They did similar strategies on the undocumented OS services dirty war back in the 90s. * SQL server is also hard to move out of and is horrible in performance for similar tests compared to open source solutions (Oracle being even slower doesn't prove it is good.) * Their security record is one of the worst in the industry for the big players, several famous researchers stopped informing them altogether. (There are a few exceptions here and there, like DNS earlier this year.) * They push draconian DRM systems and the darker side of Trusted Computing, where you completely lose control of your own hardware and a big brother organization will be able to limit and potentially spy on you without your authorization or even your knowledge. This can go on for several more pages. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/11/16/microsoft_servers/index1.html http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/11/16/microsoft_serve... http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081003-norwegian-standards-body-implodes-over-ooxml-controversy.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081003-norwegian-stan...
    - jodrellblank 18y ago

by mdasen 18y ago

tialys 18y ago

I understand your viewpoint, but at some point you have to realize that some applications would simply be easier/better to create on this stack. If you're stuck in a Windows company looking to create a startup on the web, the barriers to entry just dropped dramatically. I can't say I like it, but it's still going to help grow the industry and lead (hopefully) to more startups and better products.

nailer 18y ago
Except a lot of internet software has second-rate installations and support for Win32.

socratees 18y ago

Like RMS said, its like giving free packs of cigarettes to children till they get addicted. And then its done. Why don't people recognize the evil?

tomjen 18y ago
Because unlike cigarettes nobody dies, and a company (thankfully) has the right to make money.
- alecco 18y ago
  It is hard to make a simil with addiction without having other connotations. Microsoft is a platform made on purpose to be incompatible with anything else and actively trying to keep you hooked and paying. That is the point, not death.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- zvikara 18y ago
  My father died from BSOD, you insensitive clod!
- trezor 18y ago
  and a company (thankfully) has the right to make money. That you actually have to point this out on a site largely populated by people running startups is pretty sad.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    That's actually the only place you'd have to point this out.
  - nailer 18y ago
    He doesn't have to point it out. RMS' issue isn't that Microsoft make money. It's the way in which they make it. Similarly, I support and enjoy capitalism yet that doesn't mean I support Rockefeller murdering his competitors.
- jodrellblank 18y ago
  Dreams die.
greyman 18y ago
Because it is not evil. Microsoft offers quality software for a good price, and the total cost of ownership is not that high. What I like about Microsoft is, that even if it's a mammoth and are not able to innovate as quickly as Google for example, they are still able to improve their software and iterate towards a useful set of products.
- alecco 18y ago
  I beg to differ, their software is not quality and not a good price in the long run. * Microsoft products are a nightmare to maintain, just one thing to show is the amount of reboots required for most updates, including just applications or services. * IE is a nightmare not just for users but for web developers, they destroy everybody else's standardization attempts. * IIS is another standards and performance nightmare, and they killed all other commercial competitors with a dirty war of licensing and hard limiting their software (Workstation vs. server) by undocumented configuration. * Outlook/Exchange are incompatible with almost anything out there. [Edit: and some of their worse in performance!] * Microsoft Office is not just incompatible, but Microsoft actively sabotages any attempt by third parties to make a standard (last month half of the Office Open XML board quit in protest.) They did similar strategies on the undocumented OS services dirty war back in the 90s. * SQL server is also hard to move out of and is horrible in performance for similar tests compared to open source solutions (Oracle being even slower doesn't prove it is good.) * Their security record is one of the worst in the industry for the big players, several famous researchers stopped informing them altogether. (There are a few exceptions here and there, like DNS earlier this year.) * They push draconian DRM systems and the darker side of Trusted Computing, where you completely lose control of your own hardware and a big brother organization will be able to limit and potentially spy on you without your authorization or even your knowledge. This can go on for several more pages. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/11/16/microsoft_servers/index1.html http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/11/16/microsoft_serve... http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081003-norwegian-standards-body-implodes-over-ooxml-controversy.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081003-norwegian-stan...
  - jodrellblank 18y ago