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Nice try. But I didn't make the original assertion that it is in demand, so I bear no burden to prove the converse.

Thanks for nothing. Your subjective assessment is worth zippo to anyone but you.

I've been involved in Internet debates for almost two decades now. If you want to believe that subjective assessments can't be persuasive, you go right ahead and believe that. But before you do, I'd spend a little time reading some of the other threads on Free Republic. Again, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Nobody here has the evidence to prove that Microsoft either is or is not acting entirely ethically. In the absence of such evidence, people make a best guess. My best guess is based on past behavior and a lack of repentence, the same sort of assessment that we use to judge everything from criminals seeking parole to politicians. Your best guess is based on what, exactly? Do you really default to trusting people unless you have concrete evidence that they shouldn't be trusted?

By the way, I'm not trying to convince you because I know you don't want to be convinced. Like a good defense lawyer, you are more concerned with technicalities than truth. My points are aimed at lurkers who don't have an axe to grind. I'm not trying a case here, but you act like you are.

Look, when you make assertions, don't be surprised when people pick them apart. You made the point that MS was strong-arming competitors. When we probed that issue further, it turned out that that was just your subjective opinion, not based on any factual evidence. Quite frankly, I'm interested in the truth -- and I don't like when people stretch it, even unintentionally.

I've been involved in Internet debates for almost two decades now. If you want to believe that subjective assessments can't be persuasive, you go right ahead and believe that. But before you do, I'd spend a little time reading some of the other threads on Free Republic. Again, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Nobody here has the evidence to prove that Microsoft either is or is not acting entirely ethically.

Then you don't have any basis for making charges. Admit it and move on.