Microsoft in hot water over Wikipedia edits

[Ban Hammer 13,335]

Well for one thing they have capitulated with the Chinese government to actively censor internet users in China.

Their software is also notoriously bug-riddled - XP SP1 was released to a project deadline and really needed another 6 months of testing. I'm less than enthused that I cannot upgrade to SP2 without rebuilding my entire system.

Here are some other Criticisms of Microsoft - there are referenced articles at the bottom of the page.

yahoo is in that bunch too, not just microsoft.

software just ain't what it used to be. i sure do miss dos

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well for one thing they have capitulated with the Chinese government to actively censor internet users in China.

Their software is also notoriously bug-riddled - XP SP1 was released to a project deadline and really needed another 6 months of testing. I'm less than enthused that I cannot upgrade to SP2 without rebuilding my entire system.

Here are some other Criticisms of Microsoft - there are referenced articles at the bottom of the page.

yahoo is in that bunch too, not just microsoft.

Yes it is. But that still doesn't make it ethically justifiable.

[Ban Hammer 13,335]

Well for one thing they have capitulated with the Chinese government to actively censor internet users in China.

Their software is also notoriously bug-riddled - XP SP1 was released to a project deadline and really needed another 6 months of testing. I'm less than enthused that I cannot upgrade to SP2 without rebuilding my entire system.

Here are some other Criticisms of Microsoft - there are referenced articles at the bottom of the page.

yahoo is in that bunch too, not just microsoft.

Yes it is. But that still doesn't make it ethically justifiable.

didn't say it was.

[Robor007 0]

I would back away Mags.... he seems to like to debate everything...

but in my opinion Microsoft is evil... their programs suck example I.E.

Yes, I love to debate everything because I don't share your teabagging love of WalMart which you defend relentlessly... :rollseyes:

To everyone that says 'Microsoft Sucks' or 'Microsoft is Evil'...

What OS are you using at home? At work? Do you ever use an Office Suite of applications, say Microsoft Office for example?

[Robor007 0]

Microsoft=Evil

Wiki=Good

Why is Microsoft Evil?

Well for one thing they have capitulated with the Chinese government to actively censor internet users in China.

Their software is also notoriously bug-riddled - XP SP1 was released to a project deadline and really needed another 6 months of testing. I'm less than enthused that I cannot upgrade to SP2 without rebuilding my entire system.

Here are some other Criticisms of Microsoft - there are referenced articles at the bottom of the page.

I would more blame the Chinese government than the companies that aided them.

Microsoft software is far from perfect. Win9x, while a vast improvement over Win 3.1x, was never stable even in the right hands. And I'll agree SP1 did cause issues but most people know better than to apply Microsoft service packs right after they come out. Those that don't are the guinea pigs. It didn't affect me as I didn't apply it right away just for that reason. Why can't you upgrade to SP2 without a rebuild?

In that Wiki I see several criticisms of Microsoft that are similarly aimed at Wal-Mart yet the responses seem different here. Hmmm...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

To everyone that says 'Microsoft Sucks' or 'Microsoft is Evil'...

What OS are you using at home? At work? Do you ever use an Office Suite of applications, say Microsoft Office for example?

Just because its easily available, doesn't mean its any good. As I said, I'm not too thrilled that I have to completely reinstall my operating system in order to get the XP SP2 update.

I mean, how many commercial consumer choices do you actually have?

Microsoft Windows XP - a notoriously bug-ridden 2nd rate imitator of Apple's operating system.

Apple OS-X - Stable, but a niche platform and software for it is relatively expensive.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I would more blame the Chinese government than the companies that aided them.

Hang on... you said that you won't spend your money at Walmart because you believe that company engages in disreputable and unethical business practices. But you won't hold Microsoft to account for infringing the freedom speech of many thousands of people for profit?

Edited January 25, 2007 by erekose

[Marilyn. 340]

I would more blame the Chinese government than the companies that aided them.

Hang on... you said that you won't spend your money at Walmart because you believe that company engages in disreputable and unethical business practices. But you won't hold Microsoft to account for infringing the freedom speech of many thousands of people for profit?

thank you... I thought I was the only one who noticed the double standard

Edited January 25, 2007 by MarilynP

[Robor007 0]

Just because its easily available, doesn't mean its any good. As I said, I'm not too thrilled that I have to completely reinstall my operating system in order to get the XP SP2 update.

I mean, how many commercial consumer choices do you actually have?

Microsoft Windows XP - a notoriously bug-ridden 2nd rate imitator of Apple's operating system.

Apple OS-X - Stable, but a niche platform and software for it is relatively expensive.

I don't understand why you have to completely reinstall to apply SP2.

Given the wide variety of hardware and software it is compatible with WinXP is a very stable OS. Is it the most secure 'out of the box'? No, but a lot of the 'weaknesses' of XP can be handled by running day-to-day tasks under a non-administrators account, keeping (freely available) malware/anti-virus scanners up to date, and using a (again free) browser other than IE (Firefox, Opera, etc).

Apple has it's own very limited hardware platform and peripherals to deal with and even then it's not 100% stable (nothing is though). My wife's Mac Book is very problematic. Many programs for the Mac lack features their Windows counterparts have. Others aren't available at all (many games for example).

And to those who think I suck at Microsoft's teat, sorry to disappoint you... I prefer Linux - Ubuntu to be specific. My home desktop system dual boots Ubuntu and WinXP Pro and the only reason I run WinXP at all is so I can play games and use Skype to chat with my wife in voice/webcam (the Linux client doesn't support video). My laptop and home 'server' are 100% Ubuntu Edgy Eft.

[Robor007 0]

I would more blame the Chinese government than the companies that aided them.

Hang on... you said that you won't spend your money at Walmart because you believe that company engages in disreputable and unethical business practices. But you won't hold Microsoft to account for infringing the freedom speech of many thousands of people for profit?

thank you... I thought I was the only one who noticed the double standard

I haven't purchased a Microsoft OS or any of their software since my Win98 upgrade - nearly 10 years. My Win 2000 Pro install was a freebie and my WinXP Pro install is from work. As you can see from my reply just before this, I prefer Linux to Windows. Again, sorry to disappoint.

Oh, and if you want to trash Microsoft for aiding China's censorship of it's citizens are you going to go as hard at the others named in that Wiki? You all do realize that a vast majority of internet traffic is flowing through Cisco switches, right?

Edited January 25, 2007 by Robor007

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I don't understand why you have to completely reinstall to apply SP2.

Because the SP2 functionality introduces conflicts that stop a lot programs from working. Unless they've fixed it - but then again it comes down to whether or not I'm prepared to trust Microsoft that the update will work as it is supposed to. Given that the System Restore on SP1 is completely useless - it would be easier to back up my files onto an external drive and reinstall windows from scratch.

[Robor007 0]

I don't understand why you have to completely reinstall to apply SP2.

Because the SP2 functionality introduces conflicts that stop a lot programs from working. Unless they've fixed it - but then again it comes down to whether or not I'm prepared to trust Microsoft that the update will work as it is supposed to. Given that the System Restore on SP1 is completely useless - it would be easier to back up my files onto an external drive and reinstall windows from scratch.

What kind of conflicts/functionality? One of the places I used to work at forbid us from installing SP2 because it was incompatible with one of the programs they used. As it turns out all we had to do was either open the correct port on the firewall or disable the firewall (auto-enabled in SP2) all together. Problem solved!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Oh, and if you want to trash Microsoft for aiding China's censorship of it's citizens are you going to go as hard at the others named in that Wiki? You all do realize that a vast majority of internet traffic is flowing through Cisco switches, right?

Well the thread is about Microsoft but since you ask there was a thread or two a few months ago discussing Google's involvement in that. You can't relativise these things.

Edited January 25, 2007 by erekose

[William33 110]

The fundamental problem with Microsoft product is the lack of competition. Once they got a foothold, they have effectively squashed all competitors. Now they roll out flawed software, collect the profits and await the bad news of problems. A statistical guarantee.

Apple OS you say? Well, it's isolated from most of the peripheral software world.

Linux? The free OS, shareware? What happened to that?

Captive audience we are. That sucks.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Captive audience we are. That sucks.

Yes it does. And with Windows Vista thats not going to change. Microsoft - destroys or assimilates anyone who does anything new, or copies them (usually badly).

Internet Explorer 7.0 "borrows" the features of Firefox, and the Zune is worse than the iPod for Digital Rights Management. You can't even use it as a hard-drive. Then there's the (original) Xbox - which was more of a rip-off than the Playstation. The thing should play DVD's out of the box but they deliberately disable the functionality to force you to buy a $30 add-on. At least the PS2 plays DVD's right off the bat, so if you don't have any games its not just a useless lump of plastic.