The Microsoft Syndicate Written : 17 July 1995 Edited for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes : 18 July 1995 Long gone is the age of simple things. Long gone is the age where one's child will play PacMan with a smile. Since the first computer came out the designers promised that it will make things easy for us. And so it did. Computers will always amaze people and it will always be here until the end of the world. But what the first designers of computers didn't tell us is that it will make us totally dependant. Just like many things in life we take for granted computers are there because we depend on them. How many of us will know how to make a BAR of SOAP if for some reason there isn't anyone around to make them for you? Now that's SOAP that has nothing to do with computers. I admit I'll be able to write a computer program but I won't know how to make one single BAR of SOAP! We can pretty much say the same about computers. People that are trained to work with them can do many interesting things I'm sure but they are just as dependant on the computer software as I am dependant on my bar of soap. Computers are big business, the market is competitive and there is no place for losers. In between all this is the user, the user is the business it supports, many people don't support any kind of business as long as they get what they want, AND THAT'S where the business planning starts. Microsoft might not be able to tell people what they must accept as an computer standard but they can narrow down the choices people have when choosing software as their standard. The main objective of an business is to make money. Microsoft knows its users' needs, they know what users look for and they know how to make the users happy. The users that support MS products will forgive a few 'BUGS' and they will live with it not saying much. While MS keeps it's users 'happy' it's slowly eating up the market dumping second-rate software on the users. When you open a computer magazine you see lots of adverts and you say gosh! What a selection of software but when you look more closely you will see that 80% of that software is for Windows. All good and well, you say. So what's the big deal? The big deal is the stunt they pulled with Windows 95 and the MSN (Microsoft Network). The MSN will dump your directory listing to the network. This will make it easy for Microsoft to see what type of products the user likes and uses. Windows 95 only plays a small BUT important part. Windows NT is used in many BANKS and just the thought of my money being controlled on a machine running on Windows NT makes me stone cold. Like many businesses Microsoft does long-term planning: If 13% of all banks in the world use Windows NT then Microsoft can indirectly control 13% of the world's banks. You don't need to be a computer boffin to admit that it is easy to add 'spy' code to software. Microsoft has about 70% of the total IBM Compatible PC software market and it's growing, it won't be long before they have 70% of the Internet indirectly and we aren't even talking about banks and telephone co's. Microsoft doesn't need to buy up all the Banks and all the Telephone co's, all they need to do is convince the parties with the majority of shares to support them (bribe). We are also moving into an age where money becomes vain. Who wants to walk around with big bucks in his pocket, risking his life, while he can use a smart card. There are great advancements in the banking industry, we can now work with money credits rather than money, and since Microsoft wrote the software most of the banks run on you might well say your working with MS money. Your money is controlled indirectly by MS. Now this is just one part of the situation. MS is also convincing users to accept second-rate software as part of computing. This attitude sets back computer development by years... just as the big oil business set back the development of environment friendly cars. Big businesses actually PAY people not to be good. Good and clear proof of this is the RAM chip market. It's only good business to invest in RAM chip makers and then to write software that require lots of RAM. Anyone knows since Windows came out that the RAM prices hit the roof. Again, just one small example of the workings of MS. MS is bigger than you think! If MS can't convince other software businesses to write software for them they'll just close them down using the legal system. Since many businesses don't want to close down they will rather write for MS. I can go on and on and on and on ... you, the reader will have to decide if you want part of this and if you are like that. If your not like that then what are you going to do about it? MS wants control, and it's up to us, the users, to say NO! ... and as a programmer I say NO! About the author ---------------- I'm dead set against MS and it's supporters. Friend or Foe if you support MS and I happen to walk by I'll probably try and destroy your computer. I'm a computer programmer and program in C/C++, ASM, Clarion, Turbo Pascal I have 5 years of ex. I also program microcontrollers. I don't work for IBM or anyone else, in fact I don't even have a job. See you in the RSA.