I have'nt been this shocked since Ellen Degenerus said she was a lesbo.......... who knew?

it is really a wonderful site where in all in one roof style. It help Computer worm(users) to get update in this field. I wish this betanews.com will be the best site in latest new release as well as software update in internet.

Im so sick of people bashing Microsoft. Simply put.. if you dont like Microsoft products, STFU and buy linux. Your complaints ring hollow in the real world, because the simple fact is - Microsoft owns the computer OS market, always will, get over it.

Apple has already proven Unix is superior to Windows. The only reason Microsoft owns the computer OS market is because Apple STILL hasn't learned from their mistakes. Now that Apple is finally moving to Intel hardware, they still won't license their operating system!

The only truly stable version of Windows available that rarely crashes is Windows XP x64 Edition (for AMD64 computers).

stable because it doesn't support any hardware whatsoever?

That is simply due to the limited hardware support. At the moment, XP-64 is very similar to MacOS in that regard. (or more similar than any previous version)

As soon as 3rd party drivers enter the mix, Xp-64 will have just as many problems, if not more because it's "new" tech.

I'm not bashing windows. They've got a lot of sh!t to support. I'd love to see Mac support this amount of hardware and do better. (It's not a challenge, it'd be years before they could catch up in terms of support.)

If you have a decent configuration, with tried and true drivers, XP is one of the most stable desktop OSes MS has ever released, aside from Win2k...which wasn't exactly a desktop OS for the massess.

Somebody is totally in need of a rectalencephalectomy, BG would not part with a dime if it weren't for his wife!

Ah can't be bothered.

Funny how many Microsoft fanboys post on the boards. Bill is rich off of our sweat.

And I have lost count of the companies he has driven out of business by Microsofts shady business practices. The last one Balmer threatened to take out Google, he even admitted they have done it before.

Anyone sticking up for a company like this, just shows what your true personality is like.

Bill is the richest man on the planet, not just the United States. Yet he still overcharges customers for his software (Microsoft has already been convicted of this in several states).

all i read was blah blah blah, followed by wahh, wahh, wahh.

rofl. To have an opinion is to be a "fanboy". Seems I'm doing something right then if he's moaning.

This MS bashing is old. Don't you have something more productive to say. Bill is rich and I see he puts a lot more of his money towards charities than most people do even if you just look at percentages.

What do you do to make things better for everyone??

How can you know all these figures are true? Has anybody here counted Bill's bills and coins and so on?

All I know is that most of the rich people - and I've known some in my life - try to hide how much they have - because of obvious reasons.

So - maybe there are far more richer people in this world than Billy Gates . . .

Here is some advise about being rich, anyway:
CITATIONS-------------

Pro 10:4 He who works with a lazy hand becomes poor, but the hand of the hard worker makes him rich.

Pro 10:15 The rich man's wealth is his strong city; the ruin of the poor is their poverty.

Pro 10:22 The blessing of Jehovah, it makes rich, and he adds no pain with it.

Pro 13:7 There are those who act rich, yet have nothing at all; and those who act poor, yet have great wealth.

Pro 14:20 The poor is hated even by his own neighbor, but the rich has many friends.

Pro 18:11 The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his imagination.

Pro 18:23 The poor speak with entreaties, but the rich answer fiercely.

Pro 21:17 A man who loves pleasure shall be poor, he who loves wine and oil shall not be rich.

Pro 22:2 The rich and poor meet together, Jehovah is the Maker of all of them.

Pro 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to a man who lends.

Pro 22:16 One oppresses the poor to multiply for himself, another gives to the rich, only to come to poverty.

Pro 23:4 Do not labor to be rich, cease from your own understanding.

Pro 28:6 Better is the poor walking in his integrity than the perverse of two ways, even if he is rich.

Pro 28:11 A rich man is wise in his own eyes, but the discerning poor searches him out.

Pro 28:20 A faithful man shall be full of blessings, but he rushing to be rich shall not be innocent.

Ecc 5:12 The sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much. But the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

Ecc 10:6 folly is set in many high positions, and many rich men sit in low situations.

Psa 49:16 Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases;
Psa 49:17 for when he dies he shall take nothing; his glory shall not go down after him.
Psa 49:18 For in his life he blessed his soul; yea, men praise you when you do well for yourself.
Psa 49:19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall not see light forever.
Psa 49:20 Man, though high in honor, but understanding not, is like the animals; they shall be cut off.

Mat 19:23 And Jesus said to His disciples, Truly I say to you that a rich man will with great difficulty enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

Mat 19:24 And again I say to you, It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Luk 12:16 And He spoke a parable to them, saying, A certain rich man produced well from the land.
Luk 12:17 And he reasoned within himself, saying, What may I do, for I have nowhere I may gather my fruits?
Luk 12:18 And he said, I will do this; I will tear down my barns and I will build larger; and I will gather there all my produce and my goods.
Luk 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take rest, eat, drink, and be glad.
Luk 12:20 But God said to him, Fool! This night they demand your soul from you; and that which you prepared, to whom will it be?
Luk 12:21 So is he treasuring up for himself, and not being rich toward God.

1Ti 6:9 But those purposing to be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

1Ti 6:17 Charge the rich in the present age not to be high-minded, nor to set hope on the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, the One offering to us richly all things for enjoyment;

Rev 3:17 Because you say, I am rich, and I am made rich, and I have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Rev 3:18 I advise you to buy from Me gold having been fired by fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, and your shame and nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

It's because he's a great business man, and he is very generous. :)

" It's because he's a great business man, and he is very generous. :)"

This is just too much, how funny is that?!

He is one of the most generous on public. Check out his best billionaire buddy Warren Buffet, see how much he donates per year. Or his "arch-rival" Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison and many of those on the billionaire or mega-millionaire list.

If I remember correctly, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation charity donation account more than the combination of the top 10 charities organization combined.

And for those MS hater, you have to admit it, without MS, and Windows OS, a lot of these thing will be be possible. Every OS is too damn complicated to use by ordinately people. Most people don't give a damn if *nix is more secure if they have to takes years to learn how to operate it. They want to buy a computer, power up, and everything there for them to use and be productive.

LMAO

"What happened to Betanews? This used to be a great site years ago but now if's full of childish trolls. I'm going back to Neowin where you can actually have an intelligent conversation without M$ bashing kiddies trolling all over the place. I'm through with this place."

Don't let the door hit you.

Great touch editing ALL of your comments on the way out.

Way to be a sore loser bubba.

Just makes you look worse.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

LOL Way to end the conversation, but the spin isn't gonna work. All of my posts are defending myself not attacking you. ;-)

WOW, the scary thing with all this editing is that it probably did turn you on.

That's pretty twisted dude

Well ,why not form a charity, write to the Bill and Melinda gates Foundation and get some dollars off him, say err.. a small donation of like.. err.. $1M be nice.

Jacen...for Gods sake, get off your PC and get a life. Try going to the library or riding a bike, or maybe swimming, it will do you good to try and be a human being. Moron.

I personally don't care how much he's worth. Until he *earns* the money he has, he'll still be a computer terrorist.

Open Source/Freeware forever [/endofrant] :P

That's the stupidest thing I've ever read.

Why? Because it's true?

EDIT: When Windows costs USD$0, then I'll bother. ^_^ :P ;)

No, because it isn't true.

Ok, find me a legally free version of Windows and I'll believe you.

Microsoft sucks.

Microsoft sucks because they don't give their products away for free? How about Apple? OS X isn't free, Apple sucks! Find me a free Nintendo DS? Playstation 3? Oh I guess they all suck. They don't even give their games away, they really suck. Find me a free Toyota Camry? What? You can't get cars for free? They suck! DirecTV won't let me get all their channels for free. They suck too. Need I go on?

ohh ooh I better reply to this one so you'll change it too.

LOL!

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever read."

hurry hurry better edit this one too!

Real life products are different.

Yes, Apple sucks. But not for that reason. Apple's MacOSX operating system only works on priority (I know thats not spelt right... sue me) hardware. Theirs.

www.mandrivalinux.com www.openoffice.org www.mozilla.org.

Microsoft sucks because their products are closed source.

EDIT: Nevermind... Figured it out :P

Dude life’s a b****. Get over it.

If you wrote a program that over 90% of the world would use and make you a billionaire you would hang onto that source like you life depended on it.

Its a dog-eat-dog world out there, and if you believe everything every made should be available to anyone at any time (for free), after someone has sat there for years developing it, then you are a real moron.

Why the hell should someone who developed something by themselves, after working on it for years just give it to you for free so you can reproduce it anyway you like and call it your own.

"www.mandrivalinux.com www.openoffice.org www.mozilla.org";

Wow, Linux is free and is used by .1% of the population; the other 2 are just pointless examples of open source software because you're comparing an OS to a web browser and an office program.
But please, when the creators of Linux, MOZILLA and Open Office donate over $28 billion to help fight the world’s diseases, then you can say that MS sucks.

I don't care whether you "believe" me. Believers can thinnk anything they want without the burden of actually having to prove anything. Your criteria for proof is non-sequitur.

Where did you get those numbers?

Thanks.

fewt: You are laughing out loud at your own stupid troll infested jokes and nagging...get a life man.

Hey, I'm worth $6.32. But, once I buy 2 gallons of gas I should be worth about .12.

Now that is funny :)

If you think that is bad, a gallon costs about $8 here in the U.K. and we have all the oil coming out of the North Sea. I wonder where all these profits are going other than to Tony Blair's evil regime in parliament. Mind you, his travel bill, entertainment bill and the illegal war in Iraq cost plenty!

Melinda Gates--a Catholic--is by all accounts I've read a "good person."

Some hubbies have to buy dinner or diamond rings to get some. Bill Gates has to donate billions to charity. Poor sob.

They are good people; it's sad that no matter how many good things they do people will still hate them because of an operating system. What a messed up world.

Who hates them because of an operating system?

Anyone here hate them?

Anyone?

Someone has to, Banquo says so!

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

You sure have been implying it though.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

"I'm just pointing out that people who say otherwise are deluded children who bash Microsoft because they think it's "kewl"."

You implied, however your arrogance keeps you from seeing it.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

" No, it's just that your stupidity is causing you to imagine things."

More personal attacks, I guess you aren't going to give up until someone cries uncle.

You win, you have thrust your dagger through "yet another MS hater". Please don't hurt me with your bad a$$ self.

HAHAHAHAHA

Go tell all your IM buddies about it, I just hope it doesn't turn you on this time.

I'm going to reply before he does.

People that hate Microsoft have many reasons to do so, not just one.

I hate them because they dominate the market, making it hard for market growth.

Others hate them because of Windows, granted.

SOme hate them because of lack of support.

MS gives a lot of free web support and everyone and their brother all knows how to fix it. Face it MS is so large because they make and easy to use and fix OS.

In other news, everyone still hates him because they are jealous.

He gave away 23 billion to charity so these's a huge chunk of his cash

No, he gave 23 billion to HIS charity.

He didn't part with the money, he just moved it around a little.

What a load of nonsense. YES he gives to charity, NO he doesn't stick it back in his pocket. With the amount he's worth why the hell would he need to? Just more hateful anti-MS crap.

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2696263.stm
http://www.globalhealth.org/news/article/3579
http://www.thesmokinggun...dations/billgates1.html
http://www.aidscience.or...article.asp?Article=325
http://www.vnunet.com/vn...m-help-african-children

waah

http://www.randomperspective.com/page.asp?1news143

please stfu if you don't know anything. you probably one of those ms hater, will hate everything they do.

He gave $168 million, how much have you given? How much have those whiners given? Thought so.

I've forgotten more about Windows than you will likely ever learn.

Well, all things considered I've given a greater percentage. What's the percentage of $168M to $51B? I've given more than that to a guy on the street.

Hmm only .33%, I've given 100% of the $5 I had in my pocket to a hungry man on the street.

I win.

sorry bubba

Yeah, he gave away a $168 million. Guess what though, it's a tax deduction.

Even if that's true what does that have to do with this article? You're just a troll.

Ooh, fruit gave $5. What a hero! You obviously have more than that since your sitting in front of a computer with internet access. The $168 billion was just one single charity. He has given a lot more than that overall moron, and since you're nothing more than a pathetic MS hating troll who will continue to bash Bill Gates no matter what he does I'll have nothing more to say to you. I've already wasted enough time replying to an idiot.

Why is it that you are the ones trolling then? I just posted an opinion.

You have already proven that you are a wonderful troll. I don't hate MS, or Bill Gates but you are welcome to believe whatever you want. You have to justify your hatred of people who's opinions differ from yours any way you can, so don't let me get in the way.

Thanks for the laugh.

Fewt isn't a hater or a troll. He states an opinion and then people like you attack him. That is trolling, not what Fewt does!

I bet he has posters of Bill Gates on his ceiling of his bedroom.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

No, that's my opinion. Attacking me for expressing my opinion is trolling.

I simply disagreed with his opinion. :)

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

It's my opinion that you are a simple minded child that obviously can't stand for anyone to disagree with your beliefs.

Not that it matters. ;-)

Sorry bubba, but you are obviously trolling with this post.

Nowhere did I say anything remotely related to your comment.

The constant attacks on anyone that has any opinion other than MS and BG are gods are really old and tiring. The only people bashing anyone are people like you.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

Did I say that he didn't give to charity?

Nope.

Did I say that he gave to his own charity?

Yep.

Did I bash him?

Nope.

Can I?

I'm sure I could if I really wanted to.

The only deluded child here is you. You are trying so hard to be Mr Cool Microsoft Defender Guy that you have completely discredited yourself. Maybe you should get some help for all that hate you have bottled up inside of you before you hurt yourself, or worse you hurt someone else.

I guess you just don't get it.

Get help kid.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

See, you've got nothing.

I never said he only gave to his own charity, you are making sh*t up now.

Have a nice day.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

More nothing.

I didn't ever say he didn't give to charity. Infact, the link that I posted said that he did give to charity and our president thought it was pathetic that he didn't give more.

I didn't write it bubba, I just linked to it.

Have a nice day Mr. "Defend Microsoft To The Very End When It Wasn't Even Necessary Guy".

Are you stating that he didn't give to his own charity then?

He did you know.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

Yeah but his charity goes to other people. He can't take the money back out, it's not his anymore. :)

Jealous?

WTF?

I'm posting from a Windows XP computer, one of 5 in my house that I have legal licenses for. I am responsible for hundreds of Windows servers along with Unix and Linux.

I'm sorry, I'm not jealous. I make quite a bit of money supporting Windows Servers. You have nothing, and with every post you have less and less.

I think that Bill Gates deserves to be rich, I think he earned some of his money illegally but the law obviously disagrees so what can I say.

Microsoft makes some really wonderful products (SQL server and W2K3 come immediately to mind) and I think they make some really bad ones (Outlook and IE).

Look where we are now, I posted a simple comment about moving money around which we all know that every rich guy does and I get blasted by several people that obviously have no clue about anything related to the topic.

There's no jealousy here, I wouldn't want the responsibility or the exposure that he has and that is a fact.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

See, I told you you had nothing. :-P

LMAO One day you might make a point.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

That's not what you said before, what was it? Oh yeah you called him an idiot before you edited this comment.

You think people didn't see it?

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

LOL

If that's what you want to believe. You attacked him and you changed it very quickly hoping no one would notice.

Call me a liar all you want, your post has "edited" all over it.

Hey Nate, if you can see this can you let him know that I and gawd21 aren't the same person.

Thanks.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

You didn't say "One day you might not be an idiot"?

Or was it "One day you might not be a moron"

No, I'm PRETTY SURE it was "One day you might not be an idiot".

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

WOW, and you had the ba11s to call ME a liar.

LOL

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

The money in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is not HIS anymore. He can't take it out and buy stuff with it. If he donated to that it belongs to that charity, not him. It's not his anymore. Nice try though MS hater. Bill is a better man than anyone here will ever be.

I'm a troll, yet YOU posted this:

"By Banquo

posted Sep 24, 2005 - 2:18 PM

Microsoft hasn't done anything against the law. Other companies start whining because their products are junk so they buy out some senators and sue Microsoft."

HAHAHA

You are a riot.

LMAO no we are far from the same person. We have disagreed many of times, but we just know that the other isn't stupid and has valid points. We also know that we like to state our opinions.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

LMAO It is funny seeing how most of your posts were just to stupid to reply to.

" LOL, fewt and gawd21 are too easy. Look how many posts I dragged you along with. LOL, schmucks. :P"

"You shouldn't attack me for my beliefs."

Which is it gonna be?

LOL

Troll

You "drug me along"?

Nice touch.

Covering your tracks now I see.

very nice.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

You shouldn't insult people for their beliefs.

LMAO You have changed just about all of your posts. You bashed everyone then changed them so everyone will think you were the victim. Funny.

More personal attacks LOL

"The money in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is not HIS anymore. He can't take it out and buy stuff with it. If he donated to that it belongs to that charity, not him. It's not his anymore. Nice try though MS hater. Bill is a better man than anyone here will ever be."

I'm an MS hater? I didn't know that.

It's tax deductable isn't it?

Do you know him personally? How do you know he's a better man than anyone here? I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but you sound like you have solid evidence so do share.

I thought you were leaving.

Thanks for giving me something to do today, it's been fun.

;-)

True.

I congradulate you Isoptera4. Your comment is the first I've seen to spawn 65+ replies! (65 at last count...)

Yar, now it's 67 with this comment. :P

fewt: Now you are a hypocritical troll! Don't have to justify anything to see that. And thank you sir, for the laughs.

even though, xp,(like most previous, or to be ms os) is unstable, needs constant maintanance, restarting is neccessary every day, suffers from viruses, adware, is stupidly integrared(ie, msn and wmp,cant be totaly removed),etc....

they have managed to make a standard, on which most software runs, is compatible with newest technologies and recives almost regular updates(lol).....

no wonder that bill as the establisher of this great company is rich,

ps, excuse ma grammar.

XP is not unstable. XP does not need constant maintenance. Restarting is not necessary every day (mine has been running since spring). Etc.

If it is that way on your system, then your system is junk or you don't know what you are doing.

Then you are WAY past due for patches.

Shame on you.

I would be willing to bet you have spy/ad ware and viruses, if you haven't rebooted in 3 or 4 months.

actually, my system runs smothly, but xp dose need restarting, otherwise, it gets f*ckin slow, it dose suffer from virus and adware attaks, and it is unstabel (blue screen, seem familiar?, and it dose need maintanance(registry cleaning ect...), all of these things dont exist in osx,

Blue screens are due to bad drivers or faulty hardware, not Windows. It doesn't happen in OSX because Apple controls the hardware; you don't have thousands of different combinations to deal with. That considered XP handles it all very well I think.

And finally, you made a point.

XP doesn't get viruses unless you go to bad sites. I've had XP since it came out in 2002 and it has never gotten a virus. I shut it down every night to save energy but I dont' think that would matter

Well I know for a fact that there are exploits that will attack and XP computer and you do need the updates to protect it. Almost every firewall needs to reboot your computer from time to time when it updates. I know that is this persons computer has been up this long that it is subject to viruses and spy/ad ware, it is outdated and not even the firewall has been updated or the virus scanner's engine.

No he didn't...I tried installing AVG Free Antivirus on my dual-boot computer(2k/XP) in two different locations(one per OS), and the XP one blue-screened and couldn't get into windows(had to wipe and reinstall OS), but the 2k one is perfectly fine.

I've installed AVG countless times without any problem at all.

I haven't had any problems with AVG either, but I think AVAST has a better interface. (Also free)

I think there is something that you aren't telling us.

Yeah, I have avast! installed on all my OS's now. It boots and starts up a lot quicker.

Not really. That's my point, actually - I wasn't able to figure out what was causing it(rare), but if I reinstalled the OS + AVG, it would do it again.

I just attributed it to WinXP being finicky, and switched AV to avast!.

I would still say that I am 99.9999999999% sure that it's a driver/hardware conflict.

I recomend Avast to everyone, I liek the free version, but I think everyone should check out the paid version too. It has a 60 day trial. The free version is great and works well, but If you aren't running two scanners (as I also recommend) then you should use the pay version. ( No I don't work for or have anything to do with Avast other than I use and love their AV. )

That was your first answer to the problem? "Oh god, it won't boot up looks like I gotta erase everything again!"

There are many, many things you could do to solve that problem and none of them even involve the Windows CD.

so Billy is the richest man in America. I care because???

He also tried to rape my wallet for years. NO LONGER do I hand out cash to his company. Mainly because I do not approve of their monopolistic business practices. But that has nothing to do with this so I'll quite griping for now. I seriously could care less how much the shmuck has.

He's just trying to be a good capitalist. He's living the American Dream(tm). :)

No, good capitalism involves keeping your company within the boundries of the law.

No, good Capitalism means the government not passing laws that strangle businesses for being successful. The govenrnment's only role in business SHOULD be to mediate contract disputes, and prosecute rights violations. Past that, the market should determine the consequences of a business's practices.

LOL You want Anarchy? That's how you get it.

Do you pay for your utilities or phone? In most places they are monopolies

Microsoft hasn't done anything against the law. Other companies start whining because their products are junk so they buy out some senators and sue Microsoft.

Before you change this one too!

You said: "Microsoft hasn't done anything against the law. Other companies start whining because their products are junk so they buy out some senators and sue Microsoft."

riiight!

"Microsoft found guilty of antitrust violations" - http://www.networkworld....2000/0403msverdict.html

"Microsoft Found Guilty of Patent Infringement, Fined $8.9 Million in Damages" - http://www.subterrain.ne...-of-patent-infringement

"Microsoft Found Guilty for False Advertisement " - http://siliconvalley.int...news/article.php/432581

"Microsoft found guilty yet again of patent infringement" - http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/910

"Microsoft convicted of software piracy" - http://www.vnunet.com/vn...nvicted-software-piracy

The judges were all bought off

"The judges were all bought off"

VERY NICE! LOL

Why are you still here? Doesn't Neowin need you back?

They won't take me. :(

DOH

fewt: Oh! Now what are you? Some kind of respectable lawyer who always does it by the books? Don't lecture the BetaNews fourms on good capitalism troll...

Didn't Bill Gates use to have $70-100 billion before the tech bubble burst?

I believe so. I think he gave a good portion of it to charity.

30 billion recently, I heard.

Don't hate the playa, hate the game.

phew...I really worried about him. Good to know that he is still the richest man.

... why exactly do we want to know this?

what happens when you sell things that can be reproduced with zero overhead.

with billions of people that want or need computers.
windows doesn't drop in price much even if it isnt outdated.

Why to people want to work at MS? big $$$, they pay well. Want the latest/greatest tech? That stuff costs money to R&D.

In order to continue to develop, support, and keep the right people on staff they must bring in at least as much money as they are putting out.

Now...How much do you think OEMs (the people who purchased the highest volume of Operating systems) pay for a Windows License? And how much do you think they are marking it up before selling it to you (either on a PC, or at BestBuy)? The actual amount MS is getting from each license is probably a hell of a lot less than you think.

How much does it cost for a DVD or CD? With millions more buying them and profits up prices still go up... every company does this not just M$

Companies, any of them, will charge whatever they feel the market will bear. Regardless of cost to produce, or absurd profit margin.

As long as OEMs are willing to pony up the dough, MS and others will continue to hike up the prices.

Doesn't seem to be harming computer sales in the least.

BTW: this is true for any industry. Music, movies, software, cars, couches, etc....

Uh sorry, Microsoft DOESN't paywell...

Access to latest greatest tech, yes! Pays well, uh sorry, they don't!

That's right. M$ does not pay well. Being able to list M$ as your employer does wonders at job interviews. The idea being that if you are good enough to get into M$ then you are good enough period.
I believe IBM is much the same.
Poor Jeff Bezos must be crying into his beer over being only 42 on the list. And here am I selling my old crap on ebay to pay the rent.

You mean the plastic disc? You're not paying for the plastic, you're paying for the content.

Depends on who you ask.

Well obviously if you ask a moron they'll give you a moronic answer, but I don't see how that changes anything. People who say Microsoft should practically give Windows away because it's only a few cents worth of plastic are morons. Sorry.

You aren't a very happy fellow.

MS does pay well. You shouldn't talk if you don't know.

Yes they do.

what? people bash microsoft,so what if I had as much money as he did I wouldn't care if people bashed me!!!

I was a manager at Microsoft, THEY DO NOT PAY WELL, TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW!

BAH hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. You mean McDonalds.

Oh, I'm sorry. These are obviously children that I am dealing with on this comment thread. No, moron! I was an Engagement Manager in the Retail practice, level 64 on the salary ladder.