Microsoft

Boycott Microsoft. Monopolies are bad. Unregulated monopolies are even worse.

Read why Windows NT developers face a difficult choice, and what I think the bad effects of Windows NT will be. Consider this side-by-side comparison of Windows NT to Sun's Solaris when choosing what OS to use. Consider the factor of 2 to 7 loss of performance that Harvard experimenters documented for Windows NT versus NetBSD on the same hardware. I think the evidence is in. The conclusion has to be that developing for NT is a mistake.

Here's an example of how Microsoft gets soft treatment in the business press.

Monopolies often fail to innovate. Microsoft is no exception.

If you buy a major brand PC, you are required to buy a Microsoft operating system. If this isn't a monopoly shafting trapped consumers, I don't know what is. The Consumer Federation of America estimated $10 billion in Microsoft overpricing due to its monopoly.

If you want to buy a laptop and not purchase a Microsoft operating system, you might want to bear in mind this Australian's experience.

Microsoft fired an auditor for blowing the whistle on certain accounting practices that affect MSFT stock values.

Microsoft paid for newspaper ads that the Independent Institute nominally put out.

Microsoft (convicted of illegal monopoly maintenance) also pays consulting companies to portray Microsoft viewpoints as that company's viewpoint.

On April 10, 1999 the Los Angeles Times reported that Microsoft "has secretly been planning a massive media campaign designed to influence state investigators by creating the appearance of a groundswell of public support for the company". Plans for the campaign included planting articles, and commissioning letters to the editor and opinion pieces written by Microsoft media handlers, but presented as "spontaneous testimonials."

Any pro-Microsoft viewpoint portrayed in a public or advertising-supported forum must be examined carefully. The advocate of that viewpoint may be a paid propagandist, and not at all who or what they say they are.

Microsoft's WebTV subsidiary spys on its customers.

Microsoft Corp.'s WebTV Networks Inc. is quietly using a system-polling feature that can extrapolate subscriber information from each of its 450,000 users to better serve advertisers, said Steve Perlman, president of WebTV.