Microsoft's very foundation is theivery.

Post #70,276 by Andrew Grygus 12/21/02 7:00:37 PM Reply	Microsoft's very foundation is theivery. To create their first product, Microsoft's founders stole code (admitedly dumpster diving to get it) and stole computer time to port the code they stole. They put off potential competitors by lying - advertising the product as available even though they'd just begun work. Then they sold a product that was nowhere near ready. When people passed the product around while attempting to get it to actually work, Gates denounced them as "pirates". Microsoft hasn't improved one bit since, and anyone who deals with them gets screwed - if not now, then soon. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #70,323 by static 12/21/02 11:27:26 PM Reply	Unfortunately, Western Business runs that way. I heard the first half of a very well lauded report on Radio National this morning called [link\|http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/\|"Enron, The Musical"] (link will change). I didn't hear them enunciate it this way, but much of the problem with the Enron affair was a lack of ethics and no respect for what the law intended. Sounds a lot like how Microsoft operate, doesn't it? Wade. "Ah. One of the difficult questions."
Post #70,330 by tonytib 12/21/02 11:45:35 PM Reply	It goes a lot deeper than that In fact, one can argue that Silicon Valley has been built on a good measure of fraud, including extremely dodgy accounting/fraud, "empires" started on someone else's time, and plenty of dodgy VC activities. One difference with MS, however, is that most of these companies do straighten out as they get older. Tony
Post #70,339 by Andrew Grygus 12/22/02 12:55:30 AM Reply	Western Business in the news runs that way First in the news for fabulous growth and stunning stock performance, credited to it's brilliant and innovative (and very highly paid) managment. Later in the news as the investors find out just how innovatively they've been screwed, and their stock stunningly tanks. Then in the news as innovative management resigns in disgrace, is hauled off to jail, or pulls the ripcord on a golden parachute. Finally in the news as the investment bankers and stock analysts are scolded for complicity, duplicity or dupe-licity. For every one of these there are hundreds of businesses just trying to get along making an honest living without getting crushed by someone else's "brilliant and innovative management". These make very poor material for business news programs and magazines, so you'll never hear of them. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #70,349 by Ashton 12/22/02 7:30:45 AM Reply	Pithy summary; still M$ is different It's a worldwide monument to that progression (though it hasn't come even close to comeuppance - surely among the most undeserved of 'Lucky' Breaks?) M$ is a daily embarrassment to US technological skills, ethics and by inference - stark evidence of the state of dumbth in the US. Can anyone name an entity in any other bizness category - as pervasive, as despised? yet also unscathed: proving that it can thwart the law in toto, buy the US Government - all while still making a shitty set of products! If the topic were cancer: M$ would represent the Primal Carcinoma Cell. An Edsel was just a mediocre car, bit by the ficklesness of (already legendary) tawdry taste. IBM's arrogance and greed was comparable, but their hegemony briefer - and they received market punishment as large as the DOJ's. M$ is irregularly irregular. The suppurating boil surrounded by mere eczema. Ashton When the rich assemble to concern themselves with the business of the poor, it is called Charity. When the poor assemble to concern themselves with the business of the rich, it is called Anarchy. -Paul Richards
Post #70,383 by andread 12/22/02 1:05:57 PM Reply	Nestle Nestl\ufffd, the world's largest coffee company, are demanding millions of dollars from a country where 11 million people are facing famine. Take action to stop this scandal now! Ethiopia is currently experiencing a terrible drought. This crisis has been compounded by the collapse in the global coffee price, which many of you have been helping us campaign on. The Ethiopian government fears this drought could cause the worst famine the country has ever faced. Nestl\ufffd has demanded that Ethiopia pay over $6million in compensation for a company that was nationalised 27 years ago, a company that Nestl\ufffd didn't even own at the time. The $6m represents 0.01% of Nestl\ufffd's turnover last year. But for Ethiopia, $6m would buy food for over a million people for a whole month. Take action now: Click below to send a message to Nestl\ufffd, telling them to drop the claim for $6m from Ethiopia: [link\|http://www.maketradefair.com/spage/english/action14.asp?subcat=1&cat=1&select=1&special=yes\|Click here] forward this email to 15 or more friends, family and colleagues Make your voice count. Join the Big Noise to make trade fair. Thank you very much. Play I Some Music w/ Papa Andy Saturday 8 PM - 11 PM ET All Night Rewind 11 PM - 5 PM Reggae, African and Caribbean Music [link\|http://wxxe.org\|Tune In]
Post #70,436 by Ashton 12/22/02 8:21:49 PM Reply	Quite right you are.. I too recall the worldwide boycott eons ago - when this Swiss-based Multinational Slime Org was inducing 3rd world impoverished to use their infant formula - the first few weeks? days? supply was as free as a dope peddler's sample. N. employed white-smocked shills to recommend their Warez, just like the US white-coated pharm-chem shills all along. After the breasts had stopped producing milk: half the 'income' was needed to keep up the habit. So.. they diluted it. So the babies died or would have been better off if - Agreed - they were there before Billy stole his first stuff, told his first 1000 lies - and Nestle remains Bigger and more diverse in nastiness.. My bad. (Nestle has remained on my boycott list since before Walmart was ascending to Worldclass Slime) Ashton (my letter added) When the rich assemble to concern themselves with the business of the poor, it is called Charity. When the poor assemble to concern themselves with the business of the rich, it is called Anarchy. -Paul Richards
Post #70,491 by jbrabeck 12/23/02 9:40:32 AM Reply	Do I dare post... That while doing genealogy research, I found out that the current CEO of Nestle's is a relative? Have't established the direct link, but it looks like (I got this from his father!) that either his grandfather or great uncle was my great great grandfather. Give or take a generation or two. I know he's related, just not quite sure of the exact lineage... [link\|mailto:jbrabeck@attbi.com\|Joe]
Post #70,510 by jb4 12/23/02 11:20:38 AM Reply	Sorry to hear that... ...but pleased to find out that whatever it is that affects these toads is not genetic. jb4 "They lead. They don't manage. The carrot always wins over the stick. Ask your horse. You can lead your horse to water, but you can't manage him to drink." Richard Kerr, United Technologies Corporation, 1990
Post #71,002 by CRConrad 12/26/02 7:43:11 PM Reply	Of course you do! So, have you sent your protest yet? Like, maybe it counts for something -- a little bit more than the nothing most of those protest letters probably weigh in his estimation -- if it comes from a second cousin, or whatever it is you are? If I were you, I'd consider saying something to the effect of "Hi! I'm your long-lost cousin, I just found out we're related..." followed, a bit further down, by something about how "... and that makes me SAD, because you're disgracing our good name with this inconscionable corporate greed." But, hey, that's just me. [link\|mailto:MyUserId@MyISP.CountryCode\|Christian R. Conrad] (I live in Finland, and my e-mail in-box is at the Saunalahti company.) Actually, I rather like women, and don't particularly care for men, so I don't really mind that women are all completely insane. - [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=68920\|Andrew Grygus]

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