Microsoft = Liars (there, I said it!)

Well, here's something new ... MS caught lying again on the stand. This article clearly catches MS trying to mislead the court that RealPlayer and RealOne "rely on [Windows Media Player] to function and would not work if it was removed."

"Oh really?" replies the VP of Real, who added that his company would be "happy to show Microsoft how to remove [WiMP] if they need us to."

They and all the other articles covering the hearings show clearly that even MS's "expert witnesses" are repeatedly forced to back down from MS's stock claim that a non-monopolistic Windows is "impossible" when the states so brilliantly point out -- again and again -- that MS has already created it.

Is Microsoft so stupid that they did not think the states would ask Real if this was true or not? What the hell is wrong with them? And more importantly, what the hell is wrong with the consumers of this country who continue to support a company that clearly thinks it's above the law? Are people just mindless sheep beaten into submission, or have they been successfully hypnotised to believe that there is no real alternative, or are they just completely bereft of any ethics at all anymore and don't care what MS does to both them and others?

There are over 70 million people in this world running Macs. There are several million (could be as low as 2 mil, or as high as 10 mil, depending on who you ask) running Linux, UNIX, OS/2 or some other non-MS variant. Strangley, these people do not, by and large, feel like they are missing anything. Except viruses, massive security problems, corporate contempt, corporate crime, etc etc etc.

Look, if you think you need Windows because you legitimately can't find an alternative that does what you need to do, or even if you just don't want to move because your horde of pirated software won't work on another platform, that's fine by me. Really.

But for the love of all that's decent, you owe it to yourself -- especially if you're in a position to set policy on this sort of thing -- to look into alternative OS's and do an honest appraisal of whether they might offer any advantages. And to keep on investigating. It's the only way to keep MS's evil in check.

If I were using a PC, I would -- on principle -- buckle down and learn Linux just so I could be free of being treated as unbelievably shabbily as MS treats it's non-Mac customers. As a Mac user, I can't believe how much better MS handles us than they do their own customer base, and I'm deeply grateful that they do so. If the MS Macintosh Business Unit was a separate entity, I'd gladly buy most everything they put out. But they aren't, so I can't in good conscience.

It's waaaay past time MS was put down like a rabid Rottweiler. If Judge Kathleen Kotellar-Kelly has any sort of BS detector, MS is in deep trouble. Just like they were last time, when their obvious lying and rigged demonstrations made Judge Jackson order them to be split into two companies. I thought at the time it was a bad punishment that wouldn't work, and I still think that way, but it's become clear that MS must be hit and hit hard, which is the exact opposite of the so-called "settlement" they reached with 18 states earlier. I'm so glad I don't live in one of those states. My state apparently gives a damn about companies that openly screw both consumers and other businesses. Who knew?