> "Toddler Property Laws"
> 1. If I like it, it's mine.
>
> 2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
>
> 3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
>
> 4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
>
> 5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
>
> 6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
>
> 7. If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
>
> 8. If I think it's mine, it's mine.
>
> 9. If I...
>
> Oops! I'm sorry, I goofed! Instead of typing in the Toddler Property
> Laws, I've been typing in Bill Gates' Primary Business Plan.
>
Seriously though, my beef with the great satan of redmond is that to me
it looks like Microsoft just isn't satisified with what most companies
would be estatic for, large marketshare in most of the areas that they
have gone into. To me it seems that Microsoft always wants the entire
market, there is no room for other competitors, they must be assimilated
or destroyed and up to now it seems they will use every legal and
illegal, ethical and unethical means that they have in order to wipe out
any possible competition. They tried to do it with money management
software, Intuit had to gall to EXIST and make a profit in an area that
Microsoft wanted, well if we can't compete with them, then fuck it, well
buy them. There can be no other, there can be only one. I don't think
that there is another part of the American marketplace where this
exists, I don't think that anyone at GM expects to get 100% market
share, even Intel (not they there are bunch of nice guys either) has had
to put up with AMD and Cyrix and in a broader scope Motorola, etc. So
Joe that does technically make you a minion of the dark one, but it
doesn't make you a bad person. When I went to work for Northrop (I said
it was Rockwell eariler, but I was lying then) the HR guy asked me
something at the end of the job interview "You don't have a problem
working for a military contractor do you?" Which seemed funny to me
since I had been there all day interviewing with people, I had some idea
what the company did and I knew they didn't manufacture tractors. My
answer was "Well, not if you guys pay me." Everybodys got to make a
buck somewhere.
Dave "Burn baby Burn!" Crook