5 ms·

Microsoft has been breaking the law for years and was found guilty of antitrust violations, among others. Bill Gates, the friendly philanthropist, was/is a bus

Microsoft has been breaking the law for years and was found guilty of antitrust violations, among others. Bill Gates, the friendly philanthropist, was/is a business criminal. His company hasn't changed. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/microsoft-agrees-pay-20-million-civil-penalty-alleged-violations-children-s-privacy-laws https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/microsoft-agrees-pay-20-milli... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_C.... They waged a war of "FUD" against open-source software. https://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/57261/index.html https://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/57261/index.html And so on. And Google is hardly a saint either. "Do no evil" was just marketing from that surveillance advertising firm.

Incipient 2y ago
The majority of big business is built on varying degrees of fraud, bribery, nepotism, anti-competitive behaviour, etc. It's just how business is done. If you don't get a leg up on your competitors, they'll get one up on you.
- mrayycombi 2y ago
  A sad excuse for criminal conduct. Believe it or not there are lots of law abiding businesses, and companies that compete on quality, service, and price. And even if that were an extreme minority (and I don't think it is) we should praise them as models instead of resigning ourselves to mediocre businesses using illegal tactics to control a market for super profits.
  - Incipient 2y ago
    I never said it was good. I'm pretty awful at business because I always fix my mistakes for free and don't hide them behind fake "scope change" arguments that so many other vendors do. I'm just saying the reality of it. Also I don't think nepotism/giving work to friends is actually criminal in a lot of cases?
    - mrayycombi 2y ago
      Nepotism is a kind of corruption. It might be quite legal in some cases - private parties I think. In some cases not as much. It represents the appearance or actuality of kick backs and favoritism for "other" non-business reasons. Put your mistress on the payroll? Why not! Put your 'can't get a job' brother on the payroll? Why not?! The "princeling" hire is a classic form of quid pro quo hire - you hire Bidens coke&hookers son, his dad says hi to you on the golf course. Nothing to see here.
philistine 2y ago
At this point the events you’re describing are decades ago. To me they are as relevant to the Google and Microsoft of today as saying that Apple is not to be trusted because they messed up the Performa line. Not irrelevant, but those company are faceless, far bigger, far more insidious than when the events you describe happened.
- mrayycombi 2y ago
  It's only past history if they stop doing it. If you try to download and install chrome they do the same visual obfuscation, hide the button, and deceptilink you to use their browser. Nothing has changed bro. Open your eyes. They never repented.
  - philistine 2y ago
    > faceless, far bigger, far more insidious My point is not that they're better. It's that they're faceless now, they no longer have the personality you ascribe to them.
  - pjmlp 2y ago
    Indeed starting by FOSS folks talking about the man, while complaining that no one from big tech returns anything, even though they play by the rules of the licensing.
tim333 2y ago
Technically "Microsoft to pay $20 million in civil penalties" doesn't actually make the CEO a criminal in the legal sense. Not saying he's a saint who's never done anything wrong but who is?
- mrayycombi 2y ago
  Wow, everyone breaks the law sometimes.... Gosh. I guess we're all robber barons at heart. I guess when PG&E legally ignores requirements to trim electrical lines and people die, well the CEO didn't get any criminal charges, so the dead can be comforted that being burned alive wasn't done by a "criminal" quote un quote. We all cause people to die by our greed... sometimes.

Incipient 2y ago

The majority of big business is built on varying degrees of fraud, bribery, nepotism, anti-competitive behaviour, etc. It's just how business is done. If you don't get a leg up on your competitors, they'll get one up on you.

mrayycombi 2y ago
A sad excuse for criminal conduct. Believe it or not there are lots of law abiding businesses, and companies that compete on quality, service, and price. And even if that were an extreme minority (and I don't think it is) we should praise them as models instead of resigning ourselves to mediocre businesses using illegal tactics to control a market for super profits.
- Incipient 2y ago
  I never said it was good. I'm pretty awful at business because I always fix my mistakes for free and don't hide them behind fake "scope change" arguments that so many other vendors do. I'm just saying the reality of it. Also I don't think nepotism/giving work to friends is actually criminal in a lot of cases?
  - mrayycombi 2y ago
    Nepotism is a kind of corruption. It might be quite legal in some cases - private parties I think. In some cases not as much. It represents the appearance or actuality of kick backs and favoritism for "other" non-business reasons. Put your mistress on the payroll? Why not! Put your 'can't get a job' brother on the payroll? Why not?! The "princeling" hire is a classic form of quid pro quo hire - you hire Bidens coke&hookers son, his dad says hi to you on the golf course. Nothing to see here.

philistine 2y ago

At this point the events you’re describing are decades ago. To me they are as relevant to the Google and Microsoft of today as saying that Apple is not to be trusted because they messed up the Performa line. Not irrelevant, but those company are faceless, far bigger, far more insidious than when the events you describe happened.

mrayycombi 2y ago
It's only past history if they stop doing it. If you try to download and install chrome they do the same visual obfuscation, hide the button, and deceptilink you to use their browser. Nothing has changed bro. Open your eyes. They never repented.
- philistine 2y ago
  > faceless, far bigger, far more insidious My point is not that they're better. It's that they're faceless now, they no longer have the personality you ascribe to them.
- pjmlp 2y ago
  Indeed starting by FOSS folks talking about the man, while complaining that no one from big tech returns anything, even though they play by the rules of the licensing.

tim333 2y ago

Technically "Microsoft to pay $20 million in civil penalties" doesn't actually make the CEO a criminal in the legal sense. Not saying he's a saint who's never done anything wrong but who is?

mrayycombi 2y ago
Wow, everyone breaks the law sometimes.... Gosh. I guess we're all robber barons at heart. I guess when PG&E legally ignores requirements to trim electrical lines and people die, well the CEO didn't get any criminal charges, so the dead can be comforted that being burned alive wasn't done by a "criminal" quote un quote. We all cause people to die by our greed... sometimes.