I personally hope they win the appeal.
Me too.
As for RealNetworks Inc, i doubt any serious computer user would touch their glorified trojan "RealONE" with a bargepole
It comes standard on many prebuilt systems, though. You just can't escape it.
Why would Joe Public download anything, when Windows includes one free?
Because Media Player is a piece of crap, and is missing millions of standard codecs? But, Joe Public is too damn LAZY to download something else.
They and only they, can afford to do things like that.
Windows costs a bundle, and MS spends billions each year on R&D, which is just cloned and copied by everyone else. Just tell me Gnome and KDE aren't clones of Explorer... bugs and all.
The vast majority of my peers in college use all default programs because they don't know about anything else.
And don't care to look for it. The most they'll do is Google for something, only to find hundreds of links to the most popular software in the industry. The rise of the Internet and online shopping means you have to practically spoon-feed alternative software to the public. Banner ads, naturally.
I see nothing wrong with giving the user a OS what comes with stuff they want as standard. every OS imo should contain a web browser, email client, media player etc. if these companies do not like it then tough. it is up to them to make a better product to catch the users eye instead of attacking a company out of pure jealousy and greed.
Windows, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and Media Player are all Microsoft products. Who has the right to tell them they can't sell their own products as a package? It should be noted that while it's not easy to remove these bundled products, it's very easy to disable and replace them. I don't see what the fuss is about. I'm more pissed by the fact the competition keeps failing miserably. I've been working with Firefox for a few weeks, now, and as far as I'm concerned, it's flooded with bugs and has more CSS rendering problems than both IE and Opera combined. I fail to see why all the tech mags rave about it, other than a natural tendency to support the underdog.
But i agree that it is a good move, in principle...
Why don't they go after British Telecom, instead? All my English buddies pay more for Dial-up than I pay for broadband.
I for one do *not* want a system that comes blogged down with tons of crap I'd *never* use if it wasn't there in the first place.
Then demand a cheaper, stripped-down version of Windows. So long as consumers keep quiet and keep paying, they get what they deserve. Do you really think if IBM or Amiga was in charge, things would be different? Had a look at Apple, lately?
It's like with supermarkets nowadays. You get tied up to a store bcos when you shop *(s)mart* you get points and rebates for this or that and end up paying for stuff you never wanted and blowing more cash than you would have done in that expensive local grossery store. That store that hardly has any customers left due to the superstores just outside town which means they can no longer support the local farmers and producers so they have to shut down and end up dieing poor and lonely with the local producers soon to follow.
Then don't sign up for a rewards card. Refuse to use the automatic checkout with the touchscreens. Pay cash instead of credit so they can't track what you buy and give you coupons for crap. DON'T buy the crap! Don't buy gift certificates or prepaid credit cards... etc, etc...
People are just too damn lazy to boycott, and prefer safety to freedom. No wonder American business is all going overseas, and Bush and his cronies are using terrorism as a tool to bleed the public dry. People better shape up before the US turns into the next Rome.
