do they get any stupider????

[JungleMan]

OK..well I'm not going to go into too much detail, but somehow today in school, during a project, we got into a discussion about how Bill Gates would benefit from low energy prices.

One of the people i was working with chimed in that energy is needed to make plastics, and that's what computers are made out of. I argued, I knew it was sort of unrelated, but that computer cases were made mostly of metal (the inside, the sides, the back, etc). I then told them that aluminum cases also exist. They went on, and insisted that computer cases were made entirely of plastic.

So I then said, "Microsoft doesn't make computers anyway..why would they care?". About 3 people I was working with went on to explain how Microsoft owned all the computer manufacturers, and that they had just purchased Compaq, Gateway, and Dell.

I can see not knowing something (Although thinking that MS owns Compaq Gateway and Dell is kind of sad, that the public thinks MS owns all computers) but to argue about it when you don't know, ehh, it makes no sense.

Anyone else ever run into people like this, that argue about points about computers that they know nothing about?

[filburt1]

Every day at school.

[sail3005]

You're wrong man, Microsoft owns gateway, dell, IBM, Adobe, Macromedia, w3c, Netscape, and AOL!!! You're the crazy one!!!

I feel sorry that you are SOO misinformed.

[denniswrenn]

Last school year I was talking about processors, and somebody said that Intel is better than AMD... That used to be true, but now AMD kicks Intels ass.... I had this argument two different times with two different people. The first argument I had, the other guy said that Intel's are better because AMD chips burn out after a year... I think he meant 8 seconds and if you forgot the HSF....

[aknisely]

Well, before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals handed down their ruling recently, that was actually partially correct. Microsoft has made or offered anti-competitive OEM contracts for those companies. Until recently, Microsoft offered special OEM contracts to major computer makers like Dell and Compaq to sell Microsoft operating systems exclusively on desktop products -- as a result you could say that Microsoft "owns," or at least controls, desktop operating system software for these companies.

Incidentally, Dell recently removed Linux operating system software from their desktop lines (due to the Appeals Court ruling, Microsoft had relaxed the trust clauses) because sales were too poor to sell and provide support for Linux operating systems for desktops. They still sell for servers, however.

[JungleMan]

Originally posted by denniswrenn
Last school year I was talking about processors, and somebody said that Intel is better than AMD... That used to be true, but now AMD kicks Intels ass.... I had this argument two different times with two different people. The first argument I had, the other guy said that Intel's are better because AMD chips burn out after a year... I think he meant 8 seconds and if you forgot the HSF....

before the Athlon, Intel whooped AMD so much. My 550mhz k62 notebook (old) can't keep up with my 350 pentium 2 gayway (i rarely use it, i might sell it).

Originally posted by aknisely
Well, before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals handed down their ruling recently, that was actually partially correct. Microsoft has made or offered anti-competitive OEM contracts for those companies. Until recently, Microsoft offered special OEM contracts to major computer makers like Dell and Compaq to sell Microsoft operating systems exclusively on desktop products -- as a result you could say that Microsoft "owns," or at least controls, desktop operating system software for these companies.

Incidentally, Dell recently removed Linux operating system software from their desktop lines (due to the Appeals Court ruling, Microsoft had relaxed the trust clauses) because sales were too poor to sell and provide support for Linux operating systems for desktops. They still sell for servers, however.

True, but MS did not OWN the companies.

[aknisely]

before the Athlon, Intel whooped AMD so much. My 550mhz k62 notebook (old) can't keep up with my 350 pentium 2 gayway (i rarely use it, i might sell it).

I built a server a few months ago with an Athlon 1.0 GHz, and it was slower than hell with our network of about 30 machines (Novell NetWare). I sold the Athlon and the board, bought a PIII Xeon 700MHz 1MB, and it ran seamlessly. They're obviously different weight classes, but I don't know if AMD offers a high-cache product.

True, but MS did not OWN the companies.

I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Certainly not a controlling interest, but perhaps a little of the voting stock. Also, you have to distinguish between Microsoft Corp. owning a share in a company, and Bill Gates owning a share in a company.

[chrisjk]

Originally posted by jpbtennisman
Anyone else ever run into people like this, that argue about points about computers that they know nothing about?

Not about computers, but I argued for for hours to this guy who insisted the Boeing 767 was larger than the 747...next day I went o the Boeing site, printed the spec/picture sheet and showed it to him. I was like "IN YER FACE, ARSEBURGER!", and he said "oh, you meant Boeing, sorry I thought you were talking about Airbus..."

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. It's irritating when people swear blind something is true when you know it isn't, and they proceed to argue about it!

[aknisely]

Only the most intelligent of men can surface their pride and admit to incorrectness.

[JungleMan]

I built a server a few months ago with an Athlon 1.0 GHz, and it was slower than hell with our network of about 30 machines (Novell NetWare). I sold the Athlon and the board, bought a PIII Xeon 700MHz 1MB, and it ran seamlessly. They're obviously different weight classes, but I don't know if AMD offers a high-cache product.

I'm talking about desktops.

I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Certainly not a controlling interest, but perhaps a little of the voting stock. Also, you have to distinguish between Microsoft Corp. owning a share in a company, and Bill Gates owning a share in a company. [/B]

Yes, but they definitely don't own and control the whole comapny.

[aknisely]

Desktops represent a far smaller sector of the processor market than you might think.

And I don't think there's anyone who has majoritive controlling interests in those companies these days.