Author Topic: Microsoft for a research project  (Read 608 times)

Roo

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Microsoft for a research project
« on: 12 February 2002, 03:11 »
Here's the deal: I'm writing a research paper for school about the supression and monopoly that Microsoft has brought upon us. Does anyone, offhand have really good sources solely devoted to this topic? There's an abundance of anti-Microsoft sites, but do any future the history of Microsoft/their corporate domination? Thanks in advance

~Roo

kjg

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Microsoft for a research project
« Reply #1 on: 12 February 2002, 05:14 »
you might want to look at this article:

http://www.alistapart.com/stories/smarttags/

Excerpt:
 
quote:

THE DUSTUP SURROUNDING MICROSOFT'S new smart tags rivals those touched off by Hailstorm and the Pentium III identification number. The Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg charges that extending the smart tags to Internet Explorer 6 effectively gives Microsoft the ability to edit any page on the web without the author's knowledge. SiliconValley.com's Dan Gillmor is concerned that smart tags may be amenable nefarious uses, such as covert user tracking. Microsoft and its supporters, like ZDNet's David Coursey, insist that smart tags offer a great deal of utility, and that users can turn them off tag-by-tag or even disable the technology altogether if they wish. Meanwhile, many users and webheads would prefer to let the market decide while they get back to debating the virtues of WYSIWYGs vs. hand- coding, or whether Tom Cruise is gay.

The free market isn't

As tempting as the last option is, it isn't prudent. Microsoft owns over 80% of the market for desktop operating systems, browsers and office suites. If we 'wait and see,' the technology will be ubiquitous by the time we reach a conclusion. Some have argued that users can switch software if they don't like smart tags, but switching operating systems isn't practical for most people. Changing to Mac OS requires an expensive hardware purchase, and installing Linux isn't yet something the average user can accomplish unassisted. Even if it were, many
Life is a Rorschach test.