On BNET: Online porn struggles for profits
BNET Business Network:
BNET
TechRepublic
ZDNet
TalkBack 36 of 163:
Next »
« Previous
Some inaccuracies
Bill Gates "lied" to IBM about having an OS? Were you there in the meetings? I suggest BG knew how much he could buy the OS for, and sold on the basis of that. Very often in business you make a sale, then build the product after. How is this different?

Maybe Gary Kildall screwed up by not talking to IBM, but later, Digital Research's GEM was more popular than the early clunky Microsoft Windows.

At the time Macs were vastly expensive, and Unix workstations with XWindows were just emerging to run advanced applications like CAD and so on, and also to give Digital Vaxes with VMS a kicking on price.

GEM was good, but Apple attacked legally and won, spiking DR's windowing system (it was too like Apple's).

Apple legally attacked and failed to succeed against Microsoft.

OS2 just had a not very easy to understand interface. And IBM was the blood sucking corporation that every company was trying to unplug themselves from.

You could try to see some order in all the above chaos, but really I think there is none. Business including court actions and so on is pretty chaotic overall. Bill Gates was above all opportunistic. He also had a vision to make computing cheap and ubiquitous, which was successful. (not only BG had this vision, Commodore 64s were cheap, as were Sinclair computers, TI99s and so on and so forth).

I think the technology we have now would have been pretty similar by any other path. I beleive solution space is far more constrained than one would imagine. If BG had failed to take crucial opportunities, someone else would have, and although there would have been a different name, I think there would still be viruses and spams
and I think the most common OS wouldn't be POSIX based, but something simpler to understand for laymen.
Posted by: stevey_d   Posted on: 06/17/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
Reply to Story Reply to Message

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

This Will Make Some People Happy (NT)  BlackDiamond | 06/15/06
Yeah  KTLA | 06/15/06
Balmer needs to go too. They need a major change in direction at Microsoft.  DonnieBoy | 06/15/06
Gates is preferable to Ballmer  John L. Ries | 06/15/06
No, they aren't going open source, deal with it.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 06/15/06
Don't think that's what he was advocating  John L. Ries | 06/15/06
I dunno...  A_Pickle | 06/15/06
Yes, You And Ballmer Have One Thing In Common  itanalyst | 06/15/06
But But But...  nucrash | 06/16/06
Message has been deleted.  Bite Me_Ax_Moron | 06/15/06
Business rags agree with you  Chad_z | 06/16/06
Yet another boneheaded comment from Mr. Ballmer.  jgmsys@... | 06/16/06
Gates stepping down from full-time Microsoft role  Loverock Davidson | 06/15/06
Yes  KTLA | 06/15/06
God help us all...sincerely...  techboy_z | 06/15/06
True  KTLA | 06/15/06
Er, what?  PreventRage | 06/15/06
I know it's scary...  techboy_z | 06/16/06
huh?  moebiusloop | 06/15/06
The Question is...  schneb | 06/16/06
most wealthy?  st!lborn | 06/15/06
excuse me?  phillips1958@... | 06/15/06
Free vs. Oppressed  baggins_z | 06/15/06
uncle billy & 3rd world countries  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
Sorry, but here are some people...  techboy_z | 06/16/06
dying planet  broadway al | 06/15/06
You're wrong...  techboy_z | 06/16/06
Re. God help us all...sincerely...  qquidd@... | 06/16/06
Thats good to hear  Loverock Davidson | 06/15/06
Visionay? Oportunistic for sure but not visionary  voska | 06/15/06
Unlike the big Jobby?  seosamh_z | 06/15/06
No disrespect to Gates or anyone else  MacGeek2121 | 06/15/06
Jobs  Bryn | 06/15/06
In the same way you compare yourself to God  xuniL_z | 06/16/06
Re-read my post  voska | 06/16/06
Some inaccuracies  stevey_d | 06/17/06
that is an oxymoron  not of this world | 06/15/06
Sad day for all...  Mike Cox | 06/15/06
Toast  Ishkaboo | 06/15/06
Nice one Mike  A.Sinic | 06/15/06
It sounds like.....  Jay E Court | 06/15/06
Hey, does Porsche use MS technology?  el1jones | 06/16/06
Ya know...(sigh)  xuniL_z | 06/16/06
Gate$ is leaving the sinking ship  Linux Geek | 06/15/06
Que?  KTLA | 06/15/06
Dont bother about LG  A.Sinic | 06/15/06
Except that he cannot....  John Le'Brecage | 06/15/06
c.) He has more important things/business to do than MS. (NT)  Vily Clay | 06/15/06
I think we finally got the answer to the question...  Rob Groh | 06/15/06
Gates makes more money/power on war,oil,pharmaceutical? over the World (NT)  Vily Clay | 06/16/06
If you can imagine a wolf-philanthropist helps sheep ? this is Gates. (NT)  Vily Clay | 06/15/06
Except that he cannot....  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
really?  xuniL_z | 06/16/06
Bill Gates is leaving because ...  MacGeek2121 | 06/15/06
MacGeek  qquidd@... | 06/16/06
Do you know the purpose of Gates' Foundation? Help the poor or rich? (NT)  Vily Clay | 06/16/06
I'd go with option B...  Wolfie2K3 | 06/15/06
RE: Except he cannot...  charlieot | 06/16/06
Chinese tea prices...  John Le'Brecage | 06/16/06
With guys like you, beating Linux into scrap  No_Ax_to_Grind | 06/15/06
Message has been deleted.  realitycheck101 | 06/15/06
interesting ...  phburks | 06/15/06
See, Roger?  rapson | 06/15/06
dude  moebiusloop | 06/15/06
loss suffered?  mtifo@... | 06/15/06
Yes you are missing something  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
Last virus that infected one my PCs...  mtifo@... | 06/15/06
You are full of crap!  jlhausmann | 06/15/06
Hey, dittohead!  Userama | 06/15/06
...or better yet...  Anthony Volpe | 06/15/06
You need to take the advice of your nic.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 06/15/06
StopDoingCrack  marcusolivo@... | 06/15/06
Spoken like a true 15 year old  cstapleton | 06/15/06
Well Said  poakland | 06/15/06
not well said  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
Spoken like a clueless M$ fanboy  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
Have you ever read U. S. Code, Title 15? Or tried to buy  Update victim | 06/16/06
Aw look, he's had his first beer....  James T. Kirk | 06/15/06
oh really...  techguyjames@... | 06/15/06
Apple was the first to make a GUI standard on  Update victim | 06/16/06
I pray for you...  StanB | 06/15/06
I disagree with your judgements  Boot_Agnostic | 06/16/06
Who Cares?  raymarc001 | 06/15/06
GillB he is the link  dddd_z | 06/15/06
when the time comes...  st!lborn | 06/15/06
So Atlas Shrugs!  john_galt@... | 06/15/06
Who is John Galt?  enduser_z | 06/15/06
Having watched....  agarillon | 06/16/06
Country's highest honor  zzz1234567890 | 06/15/06
For what?  John L. Ries | 06/15/06
You're a nerd, moron  harrisharris | 06/15/06
...as all big criminals do...  Castanet | 06/15/06
Nerd? Moron?  peeseebeeb@... | 06/16/06
Harris - here's a new word for you...  Spikey_Mike | 06/16/06
Not the highest honor though  voska | 06/16/06
Country's highest honor  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
Give me a break. Honour???  peeseebeeb@... | 06/16/06
Gee, I'm gonna miss...  Userama | 06/15/06
Visicalc  mighetto | 06/15/06
Jealous  raven10303 | 06/15/06
Jealous  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
geeze  Bite Me_Ax_Moron | 06/15/06
the american dream  waylander | 06/16/06
Another Crook Will Continue the Tradition  brenthawkinsmd | 06/15/06
Naw, IBM isn't that good.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 06/15/06
Agreed. Their entire history is, shall we say, "aggressive" or "predatory".  HypnoToad | 06/17/06
Hard to replace such a visionary;-)  Richard Flude | 06/15/06
My gawd, look at the whining bashers.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 06/15/06
Bashers?....  mustang_z | 06/15/06
Then play me...  Castanet | 06/15/06
hold on  stevey_d | 06/17/06
That depends on how you measure winning  Patrick Jones | 06/15/06
well said  stevey_d | 06/17/06
My gawd, look at the whining bashers.  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
I'm not "conned" by Windows, I genuinely think it's better  stevey_d | 06/17/06
My gawd, look at the whining bashers  Bite Me_Ax_Moron | 06/15/06
only whinning from are people like you  voska | 06/16/06
YES!  Callie_77 | 07/03/06
No_Ax thinks fantasy land is better than reality...  nomorems | 06/16/06
Man, that must be a big check  warezdog | 06/19/06
Yeah, Gates wins, and the losers are  labarker | 07/06/06
Bill Gates Is  lmenningen | 06/15/06
Perfectly true, AFAIK  Castanet | 06/15/06
Thumbs UP Castanet happy  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
Very Good  keydesignz | 06/25/06
Message has been deleted.  Linux_Fanboy | 06/15/06
Message has been deleted.  MCTJim | 06/15/06
eh  skythe | 06/15/06
eh  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
Speaking of Hell  uM0p ap!sdn | 06/15/06
That could possibly buy a Mac soon  IronCladChicken | 06/16/06
Steve Jobs any different?  labarker | 07/06/06
speaking of mega-creeps  xuniL_z | 06/16/06
I feel like my dog just died  Rodney Davis | 06/15/06
So much abuse of the freedom of speech...  BlazeEagle | 06/15/06
One wonders...  CypherOz | 06/15/06
Rejoice all competitors  jimk_z | 06/15/06
Child to blame  chrisjenx2001 | 06/16/06
Tall Ship and a Star  humble99 | 06/15/06
Good Luck Mr. Gates  KyRidgeRuner | 06/15/06
If you want better  keydesignz | 06/25/06
Will MS be less evil now?  interlocutor | 06/15/06
It will be sad to see him step down but he will always be Microsoft!  erniem1970@... | 06/15/06
Are you shedding a tear?  keydesignz | 06/25/06
Un-impressed  whisperycat | 06/16/06
Good luck  Boot_Agnostic | 06/16/06
Microsoft has had a good effect  stevey_d | 06/16/06
Whatever you like or dislike  Boot_Agnostic | 06/16/06
my 2 cents  Louisiana oilman | 06/16/06
Bows to the man from Louisiana....  DCMann | 06/16/06
Wow....two sane posts on the run... :-p  Castanet | 06/16/06
TRIPS  Spikey_Mike | 06/16/06
plus it's tax deductable.  Castanet | 06/16/06
HEY Linux User xxxxx  xuniL_z | 06/16/06
And the winner is...  ny2neyme@... | 06/16/06
Just look at what he's doing next  JelMin | 06/16/06
Gates stepping down.  vger_z | 06/16/06
generous  madmaven | 06/16/06
Will there be a delay in his stepdown also? (nt)  dave95. | 06/17/06
OMG are you PEOPLE KIDDING ME??!!  warezdog | 06/19/06
WOW post  Callie_77 | 07/03/06
Ahhhh to bad...NOT!  Callie_77 | 07/03/06
WOW!  Callie_77 | 07/03/06

What do you think?

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

advertisement
advertisement