No Longer the Antichrist

Yeah Right.

Some of you have probably already found this link: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/05/making-microsoft-nicer-through-patents.ars. I had to laugh my ass off when I read it. Can you say “Scared shitless about a new Justice Department Probe?” Knew you could.

Microsoft has always operated like the right hand of the Antichrist. Many even believe Bill Gates is the embodiment of the Antichrist himself. You will hear them quote things like “His deeds and doctrine will eventually expose him to the world.” Well, it appears that Microsoft itself has recognized the merit of that quote. They are now on a massive PR campaign with a book, interviews, and Bill Gates giving away tons of cash to try and divert attention from themselves. I’m just waiting to hear either Bill Gates or Microsoft is “giving the land to Isreal” followed by 3.5 years of peace.

Let’s be real here. Microsoft has been Patient Zero when it comes to Corporate AIDS. Every company which gets in bed with them eventually contracts a “Wasting Disease” which rots it away. Just look at that poor bastard who developed the Mosaic browser! MS shafted him with a “percent of sales” deal, then bundled the browser into the OS (which still wasn’t an OS at the time) for free.

How about Lattice? Remember MS selling private labeled Lattice C compilers and their agreement not to develop their own? Remember when MS suddenly launched their own C compiler and it was incompatible with all previous object libraries? Is Lattice even in business anymore?

Then there is Novel. Remember when Novel was the king of PC network file servers and purchased DR DOS? MS used every underhanded and blatantly illegal trick it knew to make it almost impossible to get a reliable Netware connection. Then corporate America emptied its colon on MS for such underhanded tactics. Novel purchased DR DOS, which was far more robust than any release of MS DOS, and suddenly the Antichrist found itself burning on the corporate cross. It entered into a “negotiation” period with Novel to “improve cross networking functionality”, but mandated they stop all development on DR DOS while the negotiations were occurring. Next thing you know, MS comes out with a new release of DOS, breaks off negotiations, and starts shipping its own, far more buggy, networking products. Novel, for all intents and purposes, went out of business. Now, almost an actual company again with SuSE, it gets into bed with MS one more time. The Linux community has re-written most of the OpenSource licenses to basically remove Novel’s ability to ship much, if anything, with SuSE.

Now we have MS doing pratfalls, chuckling about how much it had in common with Spain during the days of the Conquistadors, and basically promising to “wear a condom this time, honest injun!”

Of course, when they find out three little things, it will probably all backfire. One, like every expression on the face of the planet, some find it offensive. Two, there’s actually a film company called Honest Injun Films Ltd. Three, the massively religious group most likely to recognize the antichrist find condoms offensive.

Once again, MS could get it right even when they try to steal it.