xp box Uptime? ... say what? No.... I think you must be mistaken.

It feels good to finaly say "I don't use it, it's not my problem." Best part about formating my drive from a dual boot to straight gnu/linux: I went from bashing windows to just not caring anymore.

I'm with you 100% mipia. My brother just collected a laptop which I'd bought for him on eBay and I told him I wasn't going to fix it if it got screwed up with junk. All I'd do is install Linux and he'd have to learn that. I think he's being quite careful.....

If you scan a cleanly installed XP machine it comes up with an Alexa hit - Microsoft integrated it into IE (from what I was reading anyway)... Not sure why they would do this (I've proven that it definately is right by rebuilding my XP box)

Works for Windows 98 & ME too.


Also, that "Alexa spyware" part is actually responsible for gathering and mantaining data for the Wayback Machine. While it does tell them where you've been, it also provides a very real service.

I'd knock it on to the "ignore" list myself.

Bill no like Linux... Bill some what like Apple...

Has anyone noticed the up swing in making Microsoft products more useful on the Mac? Especially in the Corportate sector? Maybe the holes have gotten too much to plug so they are building a life raft for thier revenue...

Missed the wave of news articles about the Microsoft report made on Mac eh?

It seems like Microsoft uses Macintosh computers internally for a lot of stuff, so perhaps they want to CYOA a bit by using their software on the competitor's system.



I seem to recall reading that IBM bought out Macintosh, but I dunno where to look that up to varify it. If so, MS Apple is a real possiblity.

What does CYOA mean?

As for the IBM buying out Macintosh, I know what you are refering to... It didn't happen. The article that you are thinking was written when IBM sold off thier PC bussiness. The article speculated as to what if IBM bought out Apple because they are the main consumers of the PowerPC line? The article also speculated on what if the started a partnership...

Cover Your Own Ass.

Slang for making a semi-valid excuse to do something that might reflect badly on you (like using a competitor's products).

I wonder if there will be something like Fink in the Mac world for the Linux world. Something that will allow people in the Linux world to run Mac applications. If that is the case then Windows will be in a world of hurt... Although Micro$oft will do alright...

MS has also admitted to having at least one of all the major Linux distrobutions in house too.

This wouldn't suprise me. MS is still a business, and a good one at that given its entire history. I bet there might even be some small pet projects floating around Redmond looking at development on linux/unix platforms. If linux somehow where to grab enough market share, MS could be interested in selling office or something to linux users. I mean, look at Office for Mac. They could of dropped this long ago saying "you want office, use windows" but why turn away sale of more units just because they arent using your OS. I am not sure how much money MS is making off each unit, but I would guess that they are making more off each copy of Office than Windows.

--> if there was an MSOffice version that ran on linux natively, I would actually purchase it.

They'd be fools not to - if they buried their heads in the sand and never even look at Linux, OS/X/BSD, etc. then they could get caught by surprise. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. . .

I have to agree with KimVette here. That is the only reason that they are doing this. They admitted to this in not so many words... The enemy they are keeping close in this case is not Linux but Open Source everything.

As for archdev's comment... That would be the logical thing to do but they won't do this. As a matter of fact, some reports I have seen show Linux matching, if not beating, Apple in market share (this was all before the introduction of the macmini). MS may someday come to this conclusion but it is a way off. If they start selling Office for Linux they are admitting defeat to the Open Source Community. This would devistate thier business model.

FWIW I know for absolute fact that Microsoft does run some mission-critical apps on Linux - because their stuff has outgrown Windows applications' capabilities. Because a friend/former colleague confided in me I can't say specifically what it is, but suffice it to say that it has to do with maintaining Windows itself. How's that for irony?

** Billy is not immune **

The real tragedy of this is for the poor end-user who's not so computer savvy, and doesn't realise that theres a constant infestation of programs growing inside his computer, without his/her consent, while he/she merrily surfs the internet....