Can you spell demagogue?

[dawnsboy]

http://www.switched.com/2007/12/10/peeved-bill-gates-says-everyone-copies-microsoft/?ncid=NWS00010000000001

[Triarius Fidelis]

He's right. The wrong answer I got on a recent calculus test owed to my copying of the OOXML format's buggy trig functions.

[tomh38]

I like this "sentence" from the comments:

"most people that dont like gates is because ge is smarter then they area bunch of he has too much money."

A few things that particular user needs are ... hmmm ... spell check, and ... uh ... oh heck just a 3rd grade education.

On the topic of Microsoft and innovation, I would say that Microsoft has innovated a few things and copied a whole lot more, just like everyone else.  I find the entire topic of who innovated what a little tiresome.  Who invented calculus, Newton or Leibniz?  Actually both, if I remember, and then each spent a whole lot of time and energy arguing over who really invented it.

Sharing ideas is actually what gets us progress.
</rant>

Tom

I just realized something.  Hanumizzle, my mention of calculus was entirely coincidental to yours.  Sorry, it's 3 AM and I can't sleep, but I'm not entirely awake either.

[rbistolfi]

I don't want a flame about Gates again, but you have to admit the guy is funny sometimes.
About the "sentences", "MS invented the gui" is incredible.
If you want to look deeper, we have to revise the hole 'author' idea. I am pretty sure Gates and Linus owe something to Leibniz's wife.

[Triarius Fidelis]

I don't want a flame about Gates again, but you have to admit the guy is funny sometimes.
About the "sentences", "MS invented the gui" is incredible.

Let's see, without even Googling, there were Douglas Engelbart's early user interface experiments, including the first use of a pointer, then there were also several implementations of Smalltalk which also advanced the OO back-end of GUIs, then the first Macintosh operating systems were based on the Smalltalk interface's appearance (if not its innards) and let's not forget windowing systems like the Symbolics Lisp machines and, ah, lest I forget, X...

Five instances of functional GUIs before MICROS~1 Windows.

About authorship in general, eh, I don't care too much. Well, when I figure something out I like to be credited for it somehow, but I don't hide my process. I don't think I could anyway.

[blurymind]

m$ steals and then claims by making a patend. You are going to see how it will buy off and rip off open source projects in the future, and then claim everything to be their inventions  ... the end user will get the crappy products and the whole bunch of patches to come,so they can keep the user's need for support   and monopolize
Ballmer and Gates will run around,pointing new and exciting projects and have dibs on them with the help of little money

the only way to stop them is the law,which in the US is not pretty well going

[dawnsboy]

the only way to stop them is the law,which in the US is not pretty well going

That is because in the US everything is for sale these days.  Integrity, the local mayor, your favorite member of congress, etc.