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Termyn8or -> RE: Bill Gates did nothing for PCs (10/8/2006 10:44:40 AM)
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Not bad, three pages of thread and only like three flamers. Nice.
I have heard of Philo T Farnsworth, and the almost simultateous research in England by Baird. It may also be of interest that Farnsworth was a student when he invented ______ (I am not going to say, just because)
Fallen by the wayside, yup, it happens. It happened to Quarterdeck, which during the time Windows 2.0 came out, offered a DOS shell or GUI that had near Win95 capabilities. It was called Desqview. Recently I ran across a copy in a second hand electronics store, I wish I had picked up a copy. It was on 5ΒΌ" floppies, so I would have to root around the attic for a drive, but I've thrown out all the 386s by now so it would be no use.
Thing here is the OS was still DOS, Windows was never anything more than a DOS shell. And how many games over the years have preferred to run in native DOS rather than a window ? Quite a few.
Sit in front of a PC running XP and there is nothing to remind you of Kildal, just as when you sit in front of a plasma TV you won't be reminded of Farnsworth, that's the breaks. Actually very little of Farnswoth's technology is used in a plasma TV, and none in an LCD or DLP.
Bill Gates is a quite competent businessman, now. It could be said that he ran Traff-o-meter into the ground, but the concept might have been doomed anyway, too limited a market. In today's day and age, being good in business seems to mean that one is adept at stealing, whether it's ideas or jacked up prices.
If you decide to hate Gates or Microhardon, go ahead and waste your energy. You might as well include other worthy targets, like Haliburton and KBR, the cable company, phone company and the biggest thief, the government.
Gates is dirty, there has never been a question in my mind. The debate can go on about just how dirty, and just how the loser of a lawsuit can get a gag order. But the fact remains, as long as money rules the world they will reward the promoters more than the inventors. Look at the companies where the salesmen make more than those who produce the product. It has been said that "Nothing happens until something is sold".
We also seem to live in a society where you get paid more to play than to work. On top of that, people who promote the players make even more. As people bitch about athletes making ridiculous money to play a game, take a look at the moguls in the upper offices. It comes clear why it costs $100 to go to the game now. (unless you don't want anything to eat or drink, and no, you can't bring your own)
As long as money rules, the rule is the little guy will be chewed up and spit out. It happens every day.
One story that may be of interest, one time the employee got over. White motors in the US invented the Deisel engine, so why is it called a Deisel ? Because Rudolf Deisel, who worked for White motors at the time ran real quick to Germany and patented it there. Even if he invented the whole concept, he did it as an employee so what he did was theft plain and simple. There were no international laws in place at the time to do anything about it.
I have run MEPIS and DSL Linux, not bad. I don't run it because I am not familiar enough with it, but that will change eventually. The big boys are big enough. I don't go to Walmart, I'll buy auto parts from Downtown rather than Murray's whenever possible. They are independent, have only one store and generally cater to professional mechanics. When possible I'll go to a little place called Cleveland lumber rather than Lowe's or Home Depot. Again, one store and caters to pros. Walk in either of these independent places and you will see pros who want to do it right the first time rather than doing it again.
When you deal with local businesses you are not helping the big boys get bigger, and since profit is alot more directly tied to their performance, your business is important to them. The big boys can take you or leave you, you're nothing but a face in the crowd. A profitable crowd yes, but you are only a small part of it. Walk into a Super K and don't buy any meat, so what. Walk into a small locally owned butcher shop, if you don't buy any meat the guy will wonder why. It is his livelihood on the line.
The OP's statement in the title of this thread may be an exagerration. It is akin to saying that Steven King did nothing for horror story writing. You did know that Steven King hardly writes anything now, he has a staff. He directs and controls the staff and pays them, therefore the product is his. Even if Gates never wrote a line of code in his life, he has written checks, therefore the product is his.
I was told by an IT preofessional that Microsoft's home office does not run Windows on the company PCs, at least not all of them. They run Linux. I can't confirm nor deny this, so since some here seem to be in the know, can someone tell me if this is true ? I have been told this by one IT pro, and it was confirmed by another and they do not know each other at all.
T
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