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Re: [PLUG] microsoft lost
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This is, of course, completely off-topic, and I admittedly don't know
anything about the PA state web site, but...
On Mon, Apr 03, 2000 at 10:17:28PM -0400, Tom Joyce wrote:
> Here is my two cents. Do you want to drive your car in PA? Then you must use
> the new State License plates. {Unless you want to pay more for a specialty
> plate}
> I am in effect having to advertise for the State on my car a Government
> web site running software from a know monopoly.
That's not entirely true. Unlike Microsoft's software, you're not
required to upgrade your license plate to the latest model, not even
when you buy a new car. I'm still using the same plate I got for my
first car 13 years ago.
> They are also looking into providing ecommerce through the State site. Who will
> be allowed what will be banned.? Second Amendment rights, the software
> etc....The whole deal seems like it is going to cost us {PA residents} money
> somehow in a lawsuit to me too.
What exactly does the Second Amendment (the right to keep and bear
arms) have to do with ecommerce?
>
> If the plates were to be a specialty item I would probably buy one but forcing
> me to get one or pay more makes me annoyed.
So you'd pay extra to get the new plates, but don't want to pay
regular price for them?
> The whole State web site could be
> run on an open source platform like Linux but they {the State} chose to spend
> 100's of thousands on Microsoft crap. This is our State and as far as I know
> our State didn't look into too many other options for web server systems, they
> saw Microsoft would give $100,000 and they jumped right in. From a Linux
> standpoint, who has a $100,000 to throw in? I heard on the news tonight Bill
> Gates personally lost over 12 BILLION dollars today. This in my opinion is what
> the lawsuit is or was about and why it WILL cost PA money someday. They
> {Microsoft} are so big they use thier size to make deals others can't compete
> with.
You sound like you're contradicting yourself here. Did PA pay
$100,000 for the web site, or did Microsoft pay PA $100,000 to use
their tools to build the site? If they did, in fact, offer to pay the
state a large sum of money to use their tools to build the site,
exactly how do you think the citizens of this state were harmed?
Hell, I think Microsoft is as evil as the next guy, but I pay enough
in taxes as it is. If big, evil, monopolistic Microsoft wants to
build my state a web site for free, I don't have a big problem with
that. Maybe we can talk Bell Atlantic into a deal for some free phone
service, too.
As for Bill Gates losing $12 billion today, I imagine that he must
have long since gotten used to his net worth going up or down by
several billion a day. Despite today's big selloff, their stock price
is still 10% higher than it was a year ago, and Gates is still the
richest man on the planet. Why do you think that his losing a few
billion today will cause PA to also lose money?
Walt
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