Dead People Say, "I See Bill Gates"

I've heard a number of times from THG's Microsoft booster society, and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't pounding out this story using Word running under Windows. There's a really good reason for that. The competition, such as it was (many find this a debatable point too) has long since been crushed. If I expect people to be able to read my email attachments, open up my spreadsheets, and generally understand the gobs of ones and zeros I push across the wires, I need to be compatible with what most folks are using. That doesn't mean that I've in love with every feature and it doesn't mean I hate MS. Or Macintosh. Or Anyone. Many have the same "the damage has already been done," attitude and say "move on, forget about it." The whole issue is that if compatibility (across the board, not just with one OS) had been made a concern long ago, we'd have more options. Better, worse, who knows? Was it the "browser wars" that really brought all this to our attention? Not really. Our honeymoon with GUIs and games and office apps was long and sweet. No one complained much when they hitched their little software wagons to Microsoft's star. However, the issue now is that MS has taken things just a bit too far for many to ignore. The Gates Dynasty probably doesn't even need to be anti-competitive anymore. So be it, move on if you need to. However, what hackles a lot of people's feathers is arrogance. Arrogance draws attention and MS doesn't need any more bad PR. Or maybe Big Bill is arrogant enough to not believe any action will be taken against MS. Maybe he's even right. Why is this even getting me going again.? Two more arrogant moves by MS.

First, according to The Inquirer , those fancy Xbox games could run easily on your PC, but will be crippled so that you'll have to buy another toy if you intend to play them. If you're a gamer, it's gotta be frustrating that you built that hot-rod machine, loaded Windows on it, paid for OS upgrades, and now MS won't let you play certain games unless you buy another half a computer that will hook up to your TV instead of that fancy monitor. Second, as I read today in The Seattle Times , Microsoft has been sending out letters from alleged MS boosters to public officials. But this really is a funny one. Turns out some of the alleged letter writers are communicating from the grave. Decomposing letters rather than composing them. As in: letters from dead people. Another letter that was received by Utah officials came from Tuscon, Utah, which could conceivably be where the dead letter writers reside because the place doesn't even exist. According to the article, Microsoft thought it could create the impression of a surging grass-roots pro-MS movement, aimed at the attorneys general of some of the 18 states that have joined the Justice Department in suing the company. Oh what a tangled web we weave. Must stop. Too many bad puns are coming to mind.