That's just ignorance on the users part. It's just like people who refuse to change their oil regularly or put air in their tires. Regular maintenance and attentiveness comes with owning a computer. When you're told what to do over and over and yet you never change, how does it become Microsoft's fault? They dummy proof their OS and people disable these features because they are inconvenient.

Yes, it is ignorance on the part of the users. Without a doubt. It is also beside the point. The unwashed masses expect an appliance that just works when you turn it on. I have cleaned up many machines and tried to "dummy proof" them with Adblock, good antivirus, and lessons on what not to click on, but they always come back polluted. People still need to get online to do their banking, order their shit, and read their email. Whether or not it's Microsoft's fault, they get the blame when the computer won't boot or is so slow it's unusable. When they have to fork over a couple hundred every six months or so to speed it back up, users grow to hate Microsoft, not HP or Dell or Lenovo.

I doubt there are that many people outside of the stereotypical Slashdot demographic who view Microsoft the way you are describing them. Most people I know of know Microsoft as simply the company who makes the software they are familiar with.

Most of the non-techie people I know despise Windows and Microsoft because they can't keep their computers running for six months without having to take it to the "Geek Squad" and have it disinfected. They could give a shit about openness, but they just don't understand why Microsoft can't make Windows work. The Techie people I know hate Microsoft because their past behavior. The president of one company I consult for hates Microsoft and wishes they could switch to something else, but their very expensive modelling and accounting software only runs on Windows.

When most of your customers hate you, it's not usually a very good long term prospect.

Good post, but bad analogy since "computers" are expected to run programs. I'd say it's more like asking whether an aircraft carrier can tow a skier. Maybe, but it won't do it well.

Theoretically improbable, but perhaps possible after all.

Actually, it's infinitely improbable, therefore finitely probable. All they need is a heart of gold.

* Citation needed

Also could you explain why no pirate has ever been charged with theft? As I recall, most pirates that get caught have been subject to civil lawsuits, not criminal complaints.

Should I assume his parents REALLY wanted a girl?

I put up with the worst of it for about six weeks and then I cancelled. I have no way of knowing for sure, but I guessed that their algorithm was based upon how quickly they received things back, not overall time or throughput. If I returned too quickly, they would just slow down the whole process. I would get aggravated and try to return my DVD quicker hoping to speed things up and it had the opposite effect.

The final straw was when I received a DVD that was broken. It had a crack completely through it so that it looked like a big split washer. I noted it as broken from my account and returned it. I re-requested the same title and they sent me the same damn broken DVD. I threw my hands up and said enough. Two weeks wasted on the same title and I still haven't seen it.

I will note that this was around 2004 or 2005. I have no idea if they still throttle. The Post Office recently closed our local distribution center and moved it all to the other side of the state. Mail takes an additional day now, each direction. I would guess that DVDs by mail would be 7 day turnarounds minimum these days.

From a business standpoint, I understand Netflix's reasons. Give the best service to new customers and least cost customers. Screw the expensive customers because they aren't profitable.

And you would be very wrong.

When I started noticing my turnaround times getting longer, I would purposely drive to a main distribution center post office to test if the post office was the culprit. I would watch my Netflix account report my return as received the next day and I would wait 2 days before the next DVD (any DVD) was shipped out. I would have tickled to get ANYTHING on my queue shipped out same day. If I would return two DVDs at the exact same time, Netflix reported them both received the following day. Sometimes they would then ship a disc one a day after receipt and then another the following day. Early on, all my next movies were shipped same day. My turn around times stretched out to a week, then 8 days. I tried reordering my queue and put low demand DVDs first to get faster turnarounds, but nothing helped.

As a result, I discovered "throttling" long before I knew there was a word for it or I ever heard about it online. It was no doubt a way to save on postage and to discourage "bad" customers. It worked; I cancelled. I was impressed with their service when I joined, but it turned out too good to be true in the long run.

I had a Netflix account back in the day when discs by mail was the ONLY option. Under promising and over delivering was NOT in their business model after your initial few months back then. If they declared you a heavy user (i.e. you asked for what they promised) your account was "throttled." I was lucky to have new envelopes in a week. They would intentionally sit on returned discs for 2 or 3 days before sending out the new ones. I dumped them and returned to Family Video. It was a shame to lose the selection, but their customer treatment sucked.

If there was a limit on the maximum returns per month, it should have been advertised. Instead, they were sneaky and underhanded in the way they resolved high demand customer.

Rank and yank. Blame that on the god of MBA, Jack Welch. He popularized that.

Okay, Dickbreath,

Is Microsoft the equivalent of IBM, or is it more like...

Borland
Ashton Tate
Sun
Wang
Silicon Graphics
Lotus
AOL
Zenith
NeXT
Maxtor
Tandy
Atari


IBM was lucky that it was run by someone who had a plan and some strategic vision and it worked out. It could have just as easily dropped into the shitter alongside numerous other tech companies. Microsoft seems to be running out of tricks and has always been seen as a "me too" company. As Windows slides into irrelevance, they can't count on Office to keep them afloat forever. And if you think Xbox is the great savior, keep in mind that Atari was once a thing too.

Right on the nose.

This is what happens:

1) Company lays off employee "dead wood"
2) Morale among remaining employees sinks
3) Good employees bail out before things go too far to shit
4) Employees near retirement keep heads low and ride it out
5) Remaining shitty employees stay because they can't go
6) Company loses competitiveness and innovation
7) Company flounders
8) Company is bought out by smaller more efficient company.

Just picking nits. Swimming pools are usually not an investment, they are an expense. An investment (ideally) is expected to provide a return. Permanent swimming pools generally reduce the saleability and value of a home and therefore should be classified as an expense.

Another error. It was clearly NOT a typo. A typo presupposes that you know the correct word. It explicitly excludes errors of ignorance. i.e. Two words vs. one and that chess and nut were spelled correctly. This was an mondegreen which exposed your ignorance. http://grammarist.com/mondegre...

You might want to review what a typo is too. You seem not to understand that either. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

Well if he doesn't, I will. Yes, it's a bad thing. I have always viewed carbon offset trading as crap. It is a net sum game. If you want to shut down polluters, don't give them and out to purchase "papal indulgences" and make them clean up or close. If a business has "excess" carbon reductions, then fine. That is their own reward. To become a broker on the offset "business" is just plain wrong.