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You model their values so well. Are you on their payroll? Or just one of their complicit serfs?

Nope, I'm not on their payroll. I am someone that thinks for myself and I'm just sick of this double standard of how they get treated. I never went along with all this silicon valley moaning about MS. I don't care if they are "ruthless", have a "bad attitude" and are "arrogant". You may as well be describing John Macenroe, Francis Ford Coppala, Gary Kasparov, etc. Take a moment to think of all the successful companies and people that were described as "arrogant" by their rivals. It just shows that you can't win in the marketplace, so you are reduced to claiming that they are "arrogant".

Well so what? If you run a company and worry about appearing "nice" then the only person that's going to buy your products is your mom.

Take a look around, that's how many competitors behave. Many of MS's rivals show ridiculously bad attitudes, such as Sun, Oracle, etc. Why they even caught Oracle hiring thugs to dig through the trash bins at an MS subsidiary.

I don't give a f*** about all these whining mediocre companies in the valley, their all a bunch of whining p***ants. Also, I am laughing my butt off watching Linux devour Sun Microsystems.

Ok, I think I understand your perspective better and have more respect for where you seem to be coming from.

IN Taipei, *ALL* as in *******ALL******* the professional computer people I interacted with; met at church; counseled at the counseling center; taught as students--

--IF--

they had *ANY* CONTACT with Microsoft officialdom at all, they characterized them as:

RUTHLESS--as in merciless, EXTREMELY OVER THE LINE demanding--DEMANDING ALL THE BENEFITS for little cost or responsibility on MicroSoft's part;

--as in using all manner of thuggery sorts of intimidations to get Microsoft's way. etc. etc. etc.

--as in squeezing every other player on the scene relentlessly so hard, so ruthlessly as to squeeze them and all their employees out of existence whenever possible.

Despotic seemed to be a mild description of MicroSoft's SOP the way most of them told it.

They spoke of MicroSoft and the devil in very similar terms and tones. And it was intensely visceral. It came from relentless, repeated experiences with Microsoft over years. The stories didn't get better. They tended to get worse over the years.

I was taken aback.

I never had ANYONE there stand up or speak up for Microsoft in a positive way. They *ALL* hated the company.

Not because it was successful.

Not even because of Gate's arrogance though that was not a fun thing to the Chinese by any means--but because of the destructively ruthless, selfish--all his benefits at all your costs way of doing business.

And if he couldn't get you this time around, he'd redouble his resources, efforts and covering all the bases to get you every direction the next way around. There was never any real coming out even, much less winning with him.

Can you understand my perspective?

I hated seeing wonderful people bloodied so repeatedly for doing honorable jobs, reasonable jobs.

THERE WAS NEVER ANY

****HINT****

OF THE ****POSSIBILITY****

OF A remotely level playing field

with Microsoft.

The deck was ALWAYS STACKED TO THE MAXMIMUM EXTREME POSSIBLE in MicroSoft's favor.

And the only options left to any of the other players was to only make their situation worse vis a vis MicroSoft.

God is not amused by such strategies, tactics and SOP's.

Gates may THINK he's God but he is not.

And he WILL reap what he has sown regardless of your praise and adulation.

His contempt for his customers will also not go unmet with justice and harvesting what he has sown.

I once met a mid-level manager of his shop. She was insensed that I thought of him as lower than God. She felt he took wonderful care of the staff she knew.

I'm glad he takes care of someone.

He sure trashes the people who give him so much money. He wastes their time, energy and other resources and probably contributes to some family violence from the frustrations with his products.

I don't think such things are defensible regardless of your affections for the man.