better than anybody? I said that it was good that MS is American. One of, if not the, biggest software companies being American is good for me, good for the U.S., good for the world.
Because it's highly international, there isn't a large difference between MS as American or MS as German. Consider, however, this...
http://slownewsday.net/story.php?story=59
While it is highly hearsay, it describes a company philosophy which, in my opinion, reflects the culture of the parent company. Lots and lots of people bitch about MS being a successful company; lots and lots of people hate free market capitalism <shrug> MS reflects much of the philosophy of America. As this is a better philosophy than most (including Germany's,) and has influence around the world, this is A Good Thing. MS, being American born and based, also boosts the American economy. And since the economy of the world rests on the shoulders of the U.S. economy, this is A Good Thing. If SAP were American, this would probably also be A Good Thing.
Bill Gates is not a computer genius, nor an expert at computers. He is, however, one of the best when it comes to business. This is why MS is huge, and Apple... isn't.
of course all people are different in terms of good and bad, as well as every other term. Just because a concept seems ugly doesn't make it any less true. Pardon me for an overused example, but Nazi Germany had its culture. Notice that there's no Nazi Germany. Japan had it's pre-WWII culture. The jury is still out on whether we managed to stamp out that culture. The Japanese are wise; they know that there's nothing genetic, nothing inherent in a culture. A culture proves itself detrimental, and you abandon it. Another proves superior, and you embrace it.
And if there is no difference, if people are not different in terms of "good" and "bad"... how on EARTH can you badmouth MS? MS is not Bill Gates; MS is thousands of people, promoting the MS philosophy. There's an entire culture around it... just as there's an entire culture around... Open Source... and Linux.
Then again, we probably have different definitions of "good" and "bad". I generally try to align mine with the prosperity of my family, my nation and my species (in that order.) Things which promote this prosperity are "good". Things which inhibit it are "bad". A thousand years from now people (or aliens, who knows) will be able to monday-morning quarterback our calls, but I'm in the trenches today.
"Between midnight and dawn, when sleep will not come, and all the old wounds begin to ache,I often have a nightmare vision of a future world in which there are billions of people, all numbered and registered, with not a gleam of genius anywhere, not an original mind, a rich personality, on the whole, packed globe." JB Priestly
You don't have to worry about MS dominating the planet and enforcing conformity; empires come and go, they can be weathered. It's the thick-headed idealists who perpetuate misery.
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