rec.autos.simulators

I dont know how many of you watched the special on Bill Gates on 20/20
Friday night.. but they showed a clip of CPR.  Showing how they have
someone rigged with sensors simulating a pit stop to import into the
game.  They then show a clip of the game...  MOVING AT ABOUT 5 FPS!!!
I just laughed... it was choppy as hell!!  Now that showed the true
nature of the game!!  Of course they threw in that it was a "best seller
for Microsoft".

Good interview though.  Gates is a fascinating man.

Scott
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Yeah, that "Best-Seller" part was the kicker for me.  Laughed for nearly 5
minutes.

If every person who ever lurked in this NG were to have some sort of
bizarre alien mind-meld, and they wrote to Microsoft en masse saying
what a piece of ***CPR is (I'm fantasizing, OK?), and if they didn't
FIX it, they'd never buy another Microsoft product as long as they lived
-- imagine the effect it would have on Microsoft: absolutely zero,
zilch, zed, zowie, nada...

As long as MS has the loyal and supportive mainstream of gamers -- the
fast-twitch Duke Nukem this week/Mayhem the next/Super-Slasher *** 'n'
***Mario Brothers the week after -- to go out and plunk down their
lawn-mowing money for whatever hyper-adrenal trendo-schlock parent-shock
diversion-of-the hour the software companies grind out for them, why
should they even give people interested in accurate simulations a second
thought?

Obviously, they haven't.

We will now join Bill in a heartfelt chorus of that old hymn, "Bringing
In The Sheaves"...

Bart (betcha this don't make it either) Brown

Fascinating in the sense that he apparently successfully assumes that
most people watching TV are incredibly naive.  He puts on this
innocent act on Tv that he's just an innocent little person trying to
make the world a better place.  He absolutely understands the concept
of leverage and how to use it to wipe a competitor off the planet.
Putting IE40 in Win95/98 has nothing to do with innovating the
operating system.  Its all about:  "beat *THIS* distribution
mechanism, Netscape!"

Randy
Randy Magruder
Contributing Reviewer
Digital Sportspage
http://www.digitalsports.com

Attaboy, Randy!

Bart

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Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.

Netscape Navigator is not only free now; the code has also been freed --
something that MS is not too likely to do with IE. So what? Give it
about 4-6 months and I think you'll see.

Bart Brown

Maybe CPR99 will be also?

Cheers!
John

Randy
Randy Magruder
Contributing Reviewer
Digital Sportspage
http://www.digitalsports.com

Randy
Randy Magruder
Contributing Reviewer
Digital Sportspage
http://www.digitalsports.com

Hi Randy,
                One the one hand I see what your saying but, isn't that the
point or benefit of becoming very successful in a business climate? I mean
I understand that Netscape cant hope to compete with MS in size or any
other way but, isn't this similar to what we see when say a Wal-Mart opens
in a town like where I live? They did and killed a bunch of long time
retailers who just couldn't compete for whatever reasons. Be it mass buying
power etc. Don't get me wrong I think it really was a pity as many of those
older stores had much better service and quality of product IMO. I would
like to hear more views on all this as I am really interested in why this
is all going on. I am not so well informed on the whole Justice Dept./MS
story. I know as a contractor almost all of the work I get it due to having
the lowest bid. Of course I cant due it for free to knock off my
competition, but I can throw in some "extras" as I usually do. Are these
things that I sited similar to the I.E4 or am I missing something? Just
curious, Cya, Mike

Cheers!
John

Not quite similar. IE4.0 is a MS product which they give away free.
You would have to give everyone (who wants it) a free construction
something or other. Like manufacturing your own track lighting
and giving it out free no questions asked. I doubt you would have
the financial resources for that. Do you? I could use some :-)

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Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.

Mike, I think the whole justice dept. issue revolves around what they call
"predatory pricing". MS can afford to distribute, for free, a great product.
Netscape can not. Therefore, MS must be trying to drive Netscape out of
business.

I think this is an invalid argument. MS can afford to give IE4.0 away
because there is so much money in their other core lines of business. The
entire Back Office suite sales (SQL server, SMS, Proxy Server, etc.) allows
them to give away a product like IE4.0. Netscape also offers a similar suite
of software that pound-for-pound isn't up to***with the MS line.

The real issue here is survival in a competitive marketplace. If Netscape
hadn't rested on their laurels, they might be in a better position than they
are in now. It is ridiculous to blame all of Netscape's problems on MS.

When Bill Gates started MS, he transformed the Information Revolution. 90%
of the technologies we all enjoy today stem directly and indirectly from the
products MS has created. No one handed them the divine rights to rule this
next generation of the computing age. They earned it with solid products and
an intelligent marketing plan. MS fought and is still fighting the survival
of the fittest. Look at IBM *** in the 80s. What are they doing today?

As far as the full scope of the DOJ investigation goes, I again think it is
unfounded and unnecessary. Bundling IE4.0 with Win98 or Win95 should be no
big deal. Every COMPAQ computer also comes with AOL installed and you don't
hear any whining about that...

-/- Walk Walker
BAMotorsports
A Premium Sim-Racing Team