still think bill gates is evil?

in a former life, approximately a year ago, i used to join in on the "microsoft is evil!" chorus. after all, big business is bad, and little people are good, right? this was treated like an absolute truth: microsoft is evil!

if you are a microsoft or bill gates-hater, please stop reading, because you will want to kill me.

bill gates gave away 28 billion dollars to charities in the past years. you can do a lot with 28 billion dollars. that's BILLION, not million. hear me? you can buy an entire country. you can blow it on material things.

that's his own money. did he have to give it away? hell no.

the man is simply a nice dork who came up with a good idea and marketed it well. should he be penalized for being a good businessman? especially one who gives back to society.

does microsoft spew toxins in the air? does it dump nuclear waste? does it charge exorbitant prices for parts (if you don't know the answer to this question, please compare apple's prices)? (please also see apple's wonderful ipod battery which needs to be replaced every year for $99 - this i believe is intentional - and its iTunes AAC format that only works on iPod, forcing you to get an iPod if you want to listen to your iPod tunes elsewhere [well, if you don't know how to strip the protective code - i will post how to do this at a later date].) you apple lovers need to get your heads rearranged and realize that "underdogs" engage in these types of business practices too. don't be distracted by the pretty lights, no matter how pretty they are. "cute" does not equal "nice" - in business or in dating.

oh and my friend who work there says workers are treated well and have good benefits. he is very happy.

so please tell me, what is wrong with microsoft? "they don't let people enter the market" is a stupid reason. a truly good product will rise to the top. if it rests on its laurels and sells shit, people will eventually drop them. plus, if a company IS doing something fucked up, antitrust law eventually takes care of it.

what about linux? linux is not a good product, because it doesn't have a simple, dumbed down initial interface and "the little people" cannot use it. if a product does not appeal to a wide segment of the populace, it cannot get a large market share. i don't care if it's more "stable." if people can't use it, it's not a good product. however, if the linux people get their asses into gear by making usability a piece of cake, and they HUSTLE and begin to capture a wider segment of the market... guess what... they will be the target of script kiddies and evil hackers as well. remember, hackers don't like "big business."

whoever is on top will be hacked and have security holes attacked, etc. microsoft just happens to be on top. if apple, by some miracle, captures the majority of the market share, you betcha there will be apple viruses all over the place. there will always be a hacker smarter than the average corporate programmer. and hackers thrive on being the little guy capable of taking down behemoths. it's just hacker mentality: david v. goliath. microsoft is not an inferior product because of the viruses that plague their internet explorer browser; they simply just get attacked more often and with more vehemence by being number one... with the most possible victims.

sorry, sometimes i just need to get a dose of reality out there. move along now...