Re: [Leica] M$ again, sigh! w

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

Back in the 80's when I was using Digital Research's CP/M I had read that
the reason IBM had chosen Bill Gates to provide the operating system for its
PC was that Gates had written MS-Basic while in school, and that IBM had
approached him AND DR about an operating system. The story I heard was that
the director of DR was playing 'hard to get', or went fishing or something,
and that Bill Gates beat DR out and the race was on.
I had used MS-DOS and DR-DOS, and to be honest, MS had always come up with a
solution that worked better. I have used UNIX and OS/2 on my PCs, but MS-DOS
and later Windows did more for me and with less sweat and strain than other
options. I had several word processing programs, from Perfest Writer and
Wordstar to, now, Word 2000- I have never had to sweat the parameters of
envelopes or labels- with Mr. Gates software, I put in the label or
envelope, and the printer makes a beautiful print- no muss, no fuss.
If he indeed stole the software, I would like to see if the software from
which he stole or borrowed could do the job better. I doubt it, if it worked
better, Word 2000 would not be the one I used!
So, he's rich and arrogant. Big deal. He has, I think I read, more
millionaires per captia in his organization than any other Fortune 500
company, and provides jobs and solutions to a myriad of people.
This big hoopla over him giving away his browser, and hurting Netscape's
feelings is the biggest bunch of sour grapes I ever heard! If Netscapes is
so great, let them sell an operating system that is BETTER than Windows, let
them come up with a browser, BETTER than windows and people will flock to
them.The nearest analogy that comes to mind is that if Henry Ford were under
the same type of government restrictions we have now, the buggy whip makers
would have cried 'foul' and all model Ts would have had a buggy whip
attached to the dashboard.
By the same token, to keep it on topic, and since Leica does not have the
market share of Nikon or Canon- why don't they sue, and have all Nikons and
Canons sold with a Leica Filter, say, with each unit! Since we all know that
the Japanese are such thieves and crooks. Jeez, why don't these people get a
life!

My 2 centimes worth of opinion. The rant is free.

Dan

- - Cry havoc, and loose the dogs of war

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Cardish <dcardish@microtec.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Sunday, August 01, 1999 9:33 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] M$ again, sigh! w


> What precisely did Bill Gates  *steal*, and who did he *back stab*?  He
> certainly didn't steal MS-DOS, the product that got him started (he didn't
> create it either, but so what?).
>
> Dan C.
>
> >On 1 Aug 99, A.H.SCHMIDT wrote, at least in part:
> >
> >> Lucien, How can you compare oscar to Bill gates.
> >> Oscar Barnack was a  honest man, an inventor, developer, genius,  a
> >> loyal employee to Leitz and  a good friend to E. Leitz.
> >>
> >> Bill Gates was and is a thief and a crook, who stole and back stabbed
to
> >> make his riches.
> >
> >