From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,345c9fcf5a67a99f X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-05-24 13:35:29 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!128.39.3.168!uninett.no!ntnu.no!not-for-mail From: Preben Randhol Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: OT: Microsoft takes on history Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 20:35:28 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Norwegian university of science and technology Message-ID: References: <3CED2E66.DD15C13D@despammed.com> <2TvH8.1710$Np5.1619@nwrddc01.gnilink.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: kiuk0152.chembio.ntnu.no X-Trace: tyfon.itea.ntnu.no 1022272528 13901 129.241.83.78 (24 May 2002 20:35:28 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@itea.ntnu.no NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 20:35:28 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: slrn/0.9.7.4 (Linux) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:24687 Date: 2002-05-24T20:35:28+00:00 List-Id: On Fri, 24 May 2002 19:57:01 GMT, Frank J. Lhota wrote: > Yes, but isn't this a "straw man" argument? Who, outside of doctrinaire > anarchists, has ever argued that companies of any size should be allowed to > use illegal methods? Silence is consent. It doesn't matter if everybody disagrees if nobody acts. > Yes, I do. Ever since I've worked on PC's, there has been a word processor > that was so dominant that no one would entertain any alternative. When I > first did DOS development, that Word Processor was WordStar from MicroPro. > Later, the word processor that held more than 50% of the marketplace was > WordPerfect. At the time, it seemed that with so many people trained in > WordPerfect and so many existing documents in WordPerfect format, nobody > would change word processors. Given the history of this market, why should > we believe that Microsoft Word is the perpetual word processor champion? It looks finally to be shaking, but perhaps more because of Microsofts own decisions than anything else. Another reasons is that other word processors are mimicking it. Making them little better (actually sometimes worse as they have to guess the format of the Word files). The marked would be more free if the document format is standardised. Then it doesn't matter which implementation is used. If somebody likes Word then they can use this and somebody else can use Abiword/KWord/Staroffice etc.. in stead. Then you could start paying for quality software and support rather than buggy crap. Preben