...is that they suck.

I was checking out The Register this morning. More specifically a story about a blog that was a spoof of a MSFT employee's blog. Somehow all that passed me by when it first hit.

The web's a scary place tho. And by moving my mouse and clicking the various links, I came across an actual MSFT employee's blog. And I read this.

I wanted to write the guy back, but couldn't find any way to do that. But in case he ever finds this, here goes... Dude, please show me where I can buy a copy of Office 95 that works with all the current office file formats. And please make sure it isn't a rape job, that I'm not paying hundreds more than the current edition of Office.

Ya see, the problem is that Office 95 is probably okay for most users (altho I think StarOffice is way more advanced, functionality wise, than Office 95. It probably resides between Office 2000 and XP) but you can't get it. Obviously Microsoft wants you to upgrade so they can make some cash, and continue to churn out products and force you to upgrade to them.

Until recently most people just ignored the upgrade bandwagon. That's when the new licensing came in. Now if you don't upgrade, you lose the ability to upgrade.

Fair enough.

But you're also subscribing now. Which means you'll pay for upgrades that may or may not be coming out. That's right, you're upgrading no matter if you like it or not. You're locked in, and there's no out. Not only that, but this of course costs more. So you're paying more money, and you may or may not get an upgrade.

And another point is being missed. StarOffice is really for corporations who want that warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with support contracts. For me, sitting at home, OpenOffice does the job just fine, at a very low cost. Er, at no cost. It's basically StarOffice, minus a few filters (that I haven't had a need for yet) and the database part. And that'd be fine for mom or dad, everything they need to do is in the WordProcessor or SpreadSheet world.

Do you honestly think manufactures want to keep paying for Microsoft Works or whatever shite it is that they preload on their machines? Don't ya think StarOffice or OpenOffice would be much cheaper? Do you think anyone would really care, other than people who have immediate relatives employed by MSFT?

Of course not. But if the companies were to preload some alternative (and let's say it, "better") software, MSFT would have a cow and slap sanctions on them. Their price for preloading XP would shoot up somewhat. Not a lot, but enough to destroy profit margins. And nobody wants that.

And MSFT is safe, churning along substandard software in a world that they control. Yelling at people who publish information about dangerous security holes after MSFT ignores them for weeks. And putting up phony switch ads to convince people that XP is somehow easier to use than a Mac.

Must be nice.