Why does everyone harp on the bugs and security issues that microsoft programs have. It's an OS for christ sake. There is so much crap that goes into this that it can't be perfect. They release updates. Download those, get a firewall and stop complaining.
I think that linux is good for some things but not for an everyday desktop. Admit it..... it's terrible for a desktop.
Microsoft's price? Well, I don't know how much it takes to pay everyone that works on each program (plus the thousands more than don't help directly) but I'm sure the price is not too bad. I mean $300 for XP pro and it's a whole OS. Borland's Jbuilder and Cbuilder cost somewhere around $3000 each. The same as with Adobe products, maya, 3d studio max?!? I know you will say "Look at all the money microsoft has," but just because you were good enough to make money in the past, should you give away your products. If they did that they would begin to loose money and that's not good business.
One thing I don't think I agree with is the .Net stuff. I'm not exactly for sure what it is, but I've been told that it will eventually lead to us downloading our software from Microsoft instead of owning a cd and that is never good.
If windows is so bad why do all the other OSs mimic it? And why do you use Microsoft's products if you hate them so much? Go use the competition's inferior products.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not some Microsoft lover, but I just have to take up for them sometimes. I'm sure they do some things that violate antitrust laws but they had to be really good to get big enough to be able to violate those laws.
Last but not least, I wish I were as smart and as good of a business man as Bill Gates.
Josh