Well, just as I have asked above; is Bill Gates, the former CEO of Microsoft, now turned philanthropist; asleep at the wheel?
It certainly appears so, however I say this with great disappointment given the very long and hard road Microsoft has been down. Perhaps it was the anti-trust issues and government intervention that contributed to what I see is the fall of Microsoft.
Perhaps it was Bill Gates own decision to bail out Apple in it's darkest hour with a huge cash infusion, although this could leave speculation that Mr. Gates has his hands in Apple and made a good business decision.
But that doesn't change the fact that more and more I see Microsoft becoming irrelevant. Be it Apple, Google, or other software companies it just feels like Microsoft is slipping and losing it's edge. Sure, all companies go thru this sort of thing but Microsoft seems unwilling or unable to offer up a better hardware and software package that makes life better.
Gone are the 24-48 hour operating system installs and updates, but this is only the case if you ditch Windows! So it goes without saying that I won't miss them days wasting away my life for some computer to offer me a fancy GUI. And let's talk about GUI's, (graphical user interfaces aka operating systems) for a minute. At one time windows OS's were rich with color and detail. Very attractive and welcoming. The new Windows 8's look is bland, almost hideous and unorganized looking. Like some designer really got paid for that!? And it even made it thru the entire company and released to the public? Someone is for SURE asleep at the wheel over at Microsoft!
And how about the cost of these Microsoft software packages? It's ridiculous the way the customer gets fleeced! Sure if you are low tech then a crappy all in one Walmart computer installed with a home edition OS will float your boat. But should you need applications like spreadsheets, word processors, web design, and or server software they fleece the hell out of you. Not only that the software is cumbersome and slow in these areas. It really hurts me to say all this!
To me Windows died with XP. Everything after that was just a re-done version of XP, with the exception of Windows 8, which is so ugly and cluttered I couldn't even gut the OS on a tablet device it was created for!
And what is Bill Gates doing? Is he asleep at the wheel while Microsoft is speeding over the cliff? Sure seems so! How could he let Microsoft come to such a pass? Bill Gates used to make the world a much better place when he was working than what he is doing now. Heck Steve Jobs worked much harder and was in the game much longer before he kicked the bucket, with a lot of respect might I add. Will Bill Gates be regarded the same way or will he let Microsoft sink?
If anything it hurts to say these things... If only because I have spent a great deal of my life with his software. But that is about to change. Does anyone else see what I'm seeing?
__________________
What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Good observations, & you're possibly right in thinking that he's sharing the balance of power between the two companies, especially if he's made investments in Apple, & even more so by knowing that he got screwed in court for having the monopoly on the industry....So why not still have the monopoly by owning the two primary companies & making it look like he's running at a loss ? Does it really matter though ?
I know that things Japanese don't go down well over on this site, but I do have to say that they make by far the best motorcycles in the world hands down, no competition ! Anyhow, for years there's been an honorary "understanding" between the various companies where-by year after year, they "share" the courtesy of letting the press promote a different motorcycle crown to be worn by this years manufacturer...eg, 2010, Suzuki's GSXR 1000 might be the one to own, 2011 Honda's CBR 1000R will be king, 2012, Kawasaki ZXR 1000 might be the boss etc etc.
The point is that they've all learned to share the fame & glory, to keep not only themselves alive, but lot's of people in jobs. And the products that they all produce is pretty-damned good. For example, around $20,000:00 will buy you a brand-new Suzuki GSXR 1300 (Hayabusa), that will be able to blow that $1,000,000:00 Buggatti away, not only in the 1/4 mile, but in top-speed also...Yet look at the difference in prices....
Anyhow, maybe Mr.Gates has decided to share the wealth, instead of losing it in court-cases !
Cheers,
Rastus
__________________
"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
I purchased a Suzuki Katana 600 new back in 1995... 6 months later the transmission blew up. Jap crap if you ask me! They can't handle any "real" abuse. Hell them guys can't even keep their nuclear reactors from melting down and worse yet they lie like bastards while poluting the entire ocean...
Recently I was buying some meat at a local store only to have some guy from Japan behind the counter offering me some Salmon... Here I was buying meat and he's trying to sell me Salmon? After I told him no a few times he smugly told me it was fresh from the west coast... I looked at him and said "I wouldn't eat nothing from the west coast waters until Japan gets their acts together". Realizing that I not only took his bate, but also spit it back out at him he smugly asked what kind of fish I liked and I told him "North Atlantic Cod!"... So I feel sorry for anyone who buys the Cod at that store for the next few weeks! LOL! Bastards!
Anyway, Bill Gates stock in Apple were non-controlling shares, plus they had a shelf life; meaning he had to dump them by the experation date or they would have been useless... I'm positive the experation date on the stocks he got in return had to be sold off way before Apple broke out and started making money again.
__________________
What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
I hate to think what you were doing to the poor little 600 Katana, especially since Suzuki actually have a better than average reputation with their gearboxes LOL ! ( Certainly better than Honda & the other big Jap makers, though I'm pretty sure that Suzuki & Kawasaki discretely amalgamated a few years ago, though still remain independent in manufacturing etc. For memory, Honda has about 52% of the market share, - (they make a LOT of "postie bikes LOL,- (motorbikes only I'm talking about here folks)), Yamaha about 22%, so that's why the other two combined their interests...).
I would think it unwise for any-one to buy anything Japanese that's been built since 2011, as the possibility of radioactivity contamination is very real...And I wouldn't buy any fish at all caught in the Pacific ever again...There have been a number of un-claimed / salvaged Nuclear powered submarines that have sunk in the Atlantic also, so maybe the North Atlantic Cod is a no-go item as-well LOL !
I thought that there'd be more to Mr Gates's interests in Apple with regulations etc etc, so thanks for clearing that up SELLC !
What's left to say now you may ask ? NO NUKES IS GOOD NUKES !!!! LOL !
Cheers,
Rastus
__________________
"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
Yeah that Suzuki 600 was somewhat of a biscut... Damn near needed 3500 RPM to pop the wheel. I think it was only 30 days before I had the rear tire worn down to the belts. Still, even with the abuse I expected a whole lot more. Thing is after I got it fixed it got stolen out from the back of my dad's shop shortly after.
I would imagine a nuclear sub would have FAR less radiation than that of the power plant in Japan, plus I don't see how whoever owned the sub wouldn't have salvaged what was left of the nuke fuel. I never heard about any nuke subs going down in the Atlantic, where and when was this? I got a feeling nukes are here to stay, but yes... If no one had nukes that would be a good thing, however many people rely on nuke power plants for power.
With regards to Mr. Gates, I am only repeating what I have read and seen on TV about it. I recall when Bill Gates did give money to Apple when they were down and out, but the details with the stock and experation dates is stuff I read or saw on TV, so it's possible Gates could silently own them for all I really know... I doubt if he was trying to skirt Anti-Trust issues he would tell anyone if that was the case. LOL
__________________
What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
I'd have to check SELLC, but I'm pretty sure that the 1st Nuked-out submarine to go down on its own accord was an American one called "Thresher" I think. It went down somewhere near Nova Scotia in the late 1950's, possibly 1960's. There's been quite a number over the years go down, but generally the water has been way-to-deep to do anything about them. The Russians have had their failures too, & more likely much more than the USA, but as you've often said, they can keep a secret LOL !
If you're interested in finding out more, there's a really good film starring Harrison Ford called "K-19, the widowmaker" from the mid-1990's (?). It will throw a light on the general tensions between the USA & USSR at that time, & prove that the "space-race" was not the only competition going on between you guys. Really good film based on the USSR archives that were allowed to be released to the general public as 30 years had passed, & now the USSR is Russia, so access was available for all to see. I'd say we've come very close to world destruction / catastrophe a number of times that we don't know about, & will probably never find out about LOL !
Another film that will leave you feeling sick in the stomach is one called "Air-borne to ground zero", & basically depicts the USA using its own soldiers as lab-rats to see what happens at different distances from where they dropped the test-atom-bombs that were being designed for Japan...
Anyhow, somehow I've managed to cross-threads over, as this should be in the NUKE section of this forum LOL !
Cheers,
Rastus
__________________
"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
I'm back to using a windows desktop PC since the imperial Apple won't allow me to use a mouse with the iPhone. Amazing what a fresh copy of Windows will do, along with the 200 updates that it downloaded. LOL
__________________
What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Windows & up-dates go together like bread & butter...You can't have one without the other...Don't feel too-bad about going back to your old-desktop either, your i-phone can still do things for you while your away.
Rastus
__________________
"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
When my time comes I want to go like Bill Gates, Asleep at the wheel; and not like his Windows users/Clients who are screaming and yelling for him to wake up!
__________________
What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
