> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Hinsley [mailto:jhinsley at telinco.co.uk]
> Makes me wonder what would happen if no-one came to the 
> Microsoft party.

<rant>
A lovely thought, and one I support.  However, despite the best of
intentions, the great unwashed masses are not going to dump Microsoft.  Joe
Sixpak will order that hot new PC his kid wants, and it'll come with Windows
XP and IE 6.  At work Joe will order a new PC and it will come with XP and
IE6.  Unless and until software developers everywhere (you, me, and about
thirteen zillion others) refuse to develop anything that will run on a
Microsoft-supplied OS, MS is going to continue to make money hand over fist,
and will (by virtue of their monopoly position) be able to dictate
"standards".  Microsoft is apparently freaked by the upsurge of interest in
non-MS platforms, and is trying to do everything and anything they can to
marginalize those non-MS platforms.  I hope that the folks at Justice will
understand this and take a suitably harsh view of this obvious abuse of MS's
monopoly position, but given the Bush administration's "close ties" with the
business community (can you say "incestuous relationship"?  I knew you
could...) I fear this will not happen.  Billy's can simply throw a few
million $ Washington's way, and the politico-whore's will do whatever he
pays...oops, "asks" for.

What, me, annoyed?  No, surely not...
</rant>

> Instead of being prompted to download the IE plug-in, you'd 
> be prompted
> to download Netscape and the plug-in. (Of course, you've got 
> Netscape on
> some old magazine CD, somewhere.) Now, if folk wrote to Mr.Gates and
> told him that that was their intention......


Bob Jarvis
Compuware @ Timken