[Gllug] Re: Gates to get Knighthood!!! (Andrew Halliwell)

Richard Jones rich at annexia.org
Wed Mar 2 17:38:22 UTC 2005


On Wed, Mar 02, 2005 at 03:39:23PM -0000, David Abbishaw wrote:
> I'm sorry and I'll probably have millions of people shooting at me for this
> comment BUT - If it wasn't for Bill Gates PC's would not be as they are
> today, he is responsible for bringing computers to the masses.  And without
> cheap and readily available Intel x86 computers where would Linux be today?

It may surprise you to know this, but back in 1982 when the PC was
released there were dozens of competing microcomputers.  In the UK
alone, there were various Sinclair machines, Atari machines, the ST
came out soon afterwards, the Japanese/Microsoft MSX machines, the
Amiga came out a year or two later, the Amstrads, and so on.

These are the machines which brought computing to the masses.

They ran on all sort of chips - the Zilog Z80, the 6802, the 68000 to
name but a few.

The graphical user interface (GUI) was neither a Microsoft invention,
nor was it even "brought to the masses" by Microsoft.  Apple were the
first to commercialise and mass-produce it (in 1984 - the concepts
were nearly 15 years old even then).  In fact even as late as 1990 it
wasn't particularly uncommon to find DOS-based text only PCs.

Microsoft's actual legacy is a company which siphons off billions from
the world economy each year into their bank accounts (and lately to
their shareholders - but that change came about more for tax reasons).
Think about how that money could have been spent more effectively!

It's a tax on business and a choke on the world economies.
Particularly in the UK where the money goes straight out to Ireland
and the US.  (Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't
believe they even pay UK tax, not even VAT).

Monopolies are NOT GOOD for anyone.  For a facile, but true, example,
think about the board game Monopoly (TM).  What happens when one
person buys all the property on the board?  The game is over.  No one
else can possibly play under those circumstances.  Monopoly is the end
point, the black hole, of capitalism, and this is why they have
anti-trust laws (in the US) and competition laws (in the EU) to
rectify this situation.  Once it happens, competition ends, and only
heavy-handed intervention can restore a competitive, capitalist
market.

Rich.

-- 
Richard Jones, CTO Merjis Ltd.
Merjis - web marketing and technology - http://merjis.com
Team Notepad - intranets and extranets for business - http://team-notepad.com
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