Griping about Microsoft IE4

[Bill Drew]

I should be ignoring this diatribe but I can't.  I hate to defend such a
corporate monlith as Microsoft but here I go.  Lets all panic and runn
around because Bill Gates just made some more money.  Oh No!!!

CMUNSON wrote:

> 
>      Anyone who follows the computer industry can see that Microsoft is a
>      monopoly in that industry and that it wants to monopolize the
>      entertainment and information industries that are online. 

I follow the computer industry and what I see is attempts by those that
wish that had done what Microsoft has try  to split up the company.  I
don't see Microsoft as being monpolistic, big yes and powrful, yes.

>It has a
>      project called Sidewalk that is an attempt to eliminate Yahoo. 

That comment makes no sense.  Sidewalk is a guide to entertainment
reosurces only.  Yahoo is much more.

>It
>      gives its IE browser away FOR FREE. 

So doesn't Netscape to most of the people reading and subscribing to
this list.
So what!!  Thats just good marketing.
>It is attempting to privatize
>      image collections (Corbis and Bettmann) and trying to buy librarians'
>      silence with puny donations (Bill's worth 36 BILLION). 

Excuse me but Bill Gates is continuing a long humanist tradition of
supporting public and school libraries.  He is even being compared
Andrew Carnegie in his efforts to get libraries wired.  Did you condemn
Apple for their school and library projects?  I think not.  Sure its
good marketing.  Again, so what?

>Microsoft is
>      trying to dominate the online travel industry with Expedia. 

Its just another tool not a domination.  No one can dominate such a
large and disparate industry as the travel industry.

>It's even
>      trying to colonize, no, assimilate Star Trek fan sites with Continuum.
>      It's managed to get webmasters to stupidly put Microsoft IE button
>      ADVERTISEMENTS on their websites, WITHOUT EVEN PAYING THEM. 

Netscape does exactly the same thing.  Just say NO.

>Its site
>      builder program for webmasters is another attempt to get the techies
>      hooked on Microsoft products. This idea that Microsoft has about
>      including "channels" to corporate websites in its new browser is
>      pretty scary too. 
>This is an attempt to take back the web by the
>      advertisers and the big corporations. They are frightened about how
>      the web lets the small gal put up a website that looks as good as the
>      megacorp.

Horse and Chicken Excrement!!  Its another means of getting information
to the end user.  I like their approach much more than other push
tecnologies.

> 
>      Is there no end to Microsoft's reach and ambitions?
> 

Is there no end to the whining and complaining when someone makes money? 

>      That is just some of the evidence and it should concern us. It doesn't
>      have to be THIS WAY. IF MICROSOFT HAS DESTROYED THE ALTERNATIVES HOW
>      ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO GO CHOOSE THEM?

The alternatives are growing every day.  Look at Opera and other
browsers that are doing fine.  Look at how well Corel and its products
are doing.

>      Yeah, like Netscape has the same R&D budget as Microsoft. If you want
>      to collude with the Microsoft Empire, so be it. Have you attempted to
>      convey to Netscape what libraries need? Has anyone? I would think they
>      would be more receptive than Microsoft.

I have sent my concerns to Netscape many times.  I only get their canned
response.  I have never gotten a personal message from them about those
concerns.  As for "colluding", collusion is "a secret agreement between
two or more people for an illegal purpose".  How dare you accuse me of
such illegal activities.;-)  Anyone that knows me at all knows that I
have lamabsted Micrososft before and other vendors as well.  I am not in
anyone's backpocket.  I'm just sick and tired of the irrational paranoia
and whining.
> 
>      If we don't fight back, soon our web experience will be totally shaped
>      by Microsoft and our caffeine will be limited to Starbucks coffee.
>

I don't see anything to fight back on.  I see a need to let all vendors
know what we think about their products and services.  We do need to
keep smaller devlopers like Netscape going but not because Microsoft is
a big monster out to eat up the world.

--
Wilfred Drew (Call me "Bill"); Associate Librarian (Systems, Reference)
SUNY College of Ag. & Tech.;   P.O. Box 902;  Morrisville, NY 13408-0902
E-mail: DREWWE at MORRISVILLE.EDU powwow:drewwe at wedrew.lib.morrisville.edu
Phone: (315)684-6055 or 684-6060 Fax: (315)684-6115
Homepage: http://www.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/
Not Just Cows: http://www.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/njc/
LibraryLinks: http://www.morrisville.edu/pages/library/
SUNYLA'97: http://www.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/sunyla/sunyla97.htm
Support the anti-Spam amendment: Join at http://www.cauce.org/
--