Who gives a $#@%? What does this have to do with Mozilla?

Dear ??,

The antitrust action was brought on behalf of Netscape, and focused on Microsoft's abuse of their monopoly power to shut down Netscape's browser. The outcome of this trial directly affects Netscape, and therefore it affects Mozilla as well. That is why this interest in the outcome of the trial.

Unfortunately, many of you people who suggested opening up the source to Windows have neglected something. What would be the use of opening the Windows source? Who's gonna fix those thousands of bugs? Splitting MS horizontally (all code to 3 cloned companies) would be better. Have them keep their code to themselves and make it less buggy at their own expense, not at the expense of the stupid developers who would have to spend the rest of their lives debugging it for free...If Microsoft released the Windows source code, and nobody fixed it, where are we? Nowhere. And MS would be able to say "We told you so" to the open source initiative.

I think ?? was referring to the new poll, about the Oscars. The subject after all, is the new poll.

Microsoft publishes all APIs to all application vendors. Can you name an exception?

Microsoft does not prevent OEMs from shipping competing products. Many OEM's ship Nagivator, AOL and what have you. Dell is shipping Linux.

Microsoft consists of a number of divisions today. Do you want more of them? Or did you mean break Microsoft into a number of companies?

I'm going to have to agree with ?? on this, this poll really sucks. I have no idea what the Oscars mean to Mozilla or Netscape. It's just popular crap. I don't even *watch* that many movies!! How about a decent poll next time, it doesn't even have to be about Mozilla per se, just about programming, computers, GUIs, something that has some bearing on what everyone's working for.

But the OSCARS??! WTF Does this have to do with anything else on these pages??! Does this look like www.movies-r-us.com? Thought not.

-=Yusuf=-, finishing off his rant.

AOL is allowed to ship less than 15% Netscape to its customers, and those only if it is requested. This is just one example of excusionary behavior. If you want more, go look at the trial evidence. Ditto Yusuf, ??, this poll is a waste. And actually giving code to three different MSs would be a nightmare because then they would diverge and we would have three windows standards instead of one.

The Oscars have nothing to do with Mozilla, or Netscape. What do half the polls on Slashdot have to do with the news that Slashdot covers? Why are polls there to begin with? They're certainly not put on websites to gain any scientific understanding of a situation through the unbiased opinions of a viewership.

Polls have two purposes. First, they help bring a face to the community. If I put up only poll questions about Mozilla, we may learn something about what the general MozillaZine readership feels, but it would be a horribly limited view (and not too terribly interesting, to tell you the truth). That's why MozillaZine, and many other sites, put up polls that aren't necessarily topical. They're interested in getting a better idea of who exactly comes to a site, and what they're interested in. Why? Not for marketing purposes, but because they're curious. And I think a majority of their readers are as well (107 so far, in the most recent poll).

Second, polls are put up for the enjoyment of viewers, so that they can learn a little about the proclivities of their compatriots. Also, polls at websites like /. and mz allow readers to voice their opinions on subjects in a forum where they feel comfortable.

So, you may not like the poll, but so what? Are you trying to influence how I run the site by telling me that it "sucks"? How far do you think that'll get you? Rob at Slashdot has had to deal with that kind on non-constructive criticism for a long time, and I think he solved his problem by not reading forum posts, and by placing a "this poll sucks" choice on every poll, for the people who want to bitch via a shortcut. I'd suggest another route. If you don't like the poll, don't participate. It's a free 'Net.

If you're interested in influencing the direction of the site, I'd suggest doing it in a more constructive manner, not taking pot-shots. Click on the "about" link at right to get our email address.

Okay, you're right. It just seemed so way out there compared to the first one.

:)

Nothing wrong with injecting a little humanity and/or humour into the poll proceedings. Are some people suggesting that fans of the Thunderin' Lizard have no other interests whatsoever?

Carry on, MozZine.