Microsoft Cries Foul At Stolen Interface

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1. Ryan Nichols
   

   September 1st, 2006 at 1:21 am

   Not only the irony in Microsoft crying foul about someone stealing thier interface, but that it’s a company from CHINA.

   An old client of ours was a chinese manufacturer building a ‘new’ line of network devices. Turns out later they were sued by 3com for reboxing their exact same hardware. Happens all the time unfortunately.

2. jilm
   

   September 1st, 2006 at 1:22 am

   Take a look at new design of Czech portal http://www.atlas.cz.

3. Grant Gibson
   

   September 1st, 2006 at 1:29 am

   Unbelievable! Personally I think both sites have a look of Yahoo! circa 2005 about them. It seems arrogant of Microsoft to say that the site ‘lifted’ their look and feel when many other sites share an equal number of similarities (the pushpin icon excepted).

   And on the icon point, it seems like a double standard to me - on one hand Microsoft are saying “let’s make user interfaces from different vendors more consistent” by using the orange RSS icon in IE7, whilst at the same time saying… “as long as you don’t use OUR icons”. Anyone else see that?

4. PXLated
   

   September 1st, 2006 at 1:32 am

   Color/Tones are similar but other than that I don’t think they are that much alike. Certainly not enough to yell rip-off. The Czech portal is closer.

5. Andy Lann
   

   September 1st, 2006 at 1:34 am

   And for the rest of the site, the “home” icon for example, is stolen från Mac OS X.

6. Sam Sethi
   

   September 1st, 2006 at 1:34 am

   It is not easy to steal where the landlord is a thief” - Irish proverb.

   Clearly its a ripoff but does Microsoft have a copyright on “look & feel”?

7. LKM
   

   September 1st, 2006 at 1:39 am

   Yeah, the site has more elements from Mac OS X (some of the icons are actual pixel-perfect copies of Mac OS X icons) than from live.

8. TanNg
   

   September 1st, 2006 at 1:53 am

   To Grant Gibson

   MS developer team had contacted FF about using RSS orange icon, FF team agreed.

9. Clark
   

   September 1st, 2006 at 1:59 am

   When Microsoft make a standard icon office, it is no brainer, it will be user all over in others application. The same things in push pin icon, it is so common. What’s the fuss of icons copying?

   both site is totally diffrent look’s and feel.

   Any one know that Microsoft never copy something from others?

10. They did hire a deisgner..
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 2:40 am

    to copy the pushpin icon.

    this happens all the time, in fashion, in movies, in product design. etc.
    if something is popular people will copy.

11. Josh Einstein
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 2:43 am

    Microsoft not only stole my user interface, but they stole the whole concept of a unique feature in my app that I foolishly showed someone at MS while my product was still in development.

    http://josheinstein.com/journa...../1498.aspx

12. Pro SEO
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 2:48 am

    “Clearly its a ripoff but does Microsoft have a copyright on “look & feel”?”

    No, They just like to act like they do.

13. Victor Berggren
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 3:05 am

    We hear a lot about Chinas’ technical ability but when it comes to the web they haven’t proved that they’re really inventors/innovators have they?

14. lolboi
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 3:36 am

    Microsoft and this Wiseman guy need to get a grip. A pushpin icon? LOL.

    How about a search engine that doesn’t return shitty results?

15. Rajesh
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 4:49 am

    Sina should be ashamed of it.

    Rajesh
    http://www.codegrounds.com - Write n Earn

16. TanNg
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 5:25 am

    Many of you see MS as one single man. In fact there are many team at MS, which with different style and behavior. Today, every team and even developer is blogging, so dont expect them behave the same manner.

17. Mike
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 5:25 am

    hmmm… microsoft knows nothing about copying “look and feel”, right?

    msn search looks an awful lot like google search to me
    live.com personlized home page looks a lot like google ig
    oh yeah, remember when windows ripped off the macintosh ui?

    although, i do admit the blatant pushpin copy is kind of ridiculous.

18. dogStar
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 5:57 am

    Having just come off the phone to my lawyers over an IP issue I can confirm that it matters not whether your claim of copyright infringement is valid or not but simply how much money you’re willing to throw at the problem.

    There’s no point in saying ..”Yeah but you have copied Y doing this, or X copied you doing that first”. The truth matters not.

    If you have £300,000 or so to take some poor bugger to court over a spurious IP claim your likely to win.

    MS have the cash and can thus buy their justice.

19. GregR
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 6:01 am

    Who cares about Microsoft anymore?. They are fighting a rear guard action on all fronts. If they are spending their time sueing people over web interfaces then they are not spending time making their products better.
    Lawsuits are the last bastion of a failing business model.

20. pranav
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 6:01 am

    Whats the hooplah about? Just because Sina.com used a light shade of blue and a few layout similarities — i dont see that sina has ‘lifted’ MS’s design..

    Probably, just a publicity stunt by the ‘Live’ team. All evidence pinpointed to a freakin pushpin.. I dont know whether it sounded hilarious or ridiculous to me…

21. s4ndm4n
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 6:03 am

    Personally, when it comes to design styles and “looks” copying should be flattering. Its how many people learn how to get their own creative edge in the long run, by starting out with what seems to work.. Besides, how many of the web developers out there can say that they haven’t used someone else’s designs in their own along the way? personally looking at the images of Vista that I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem like its all new either — Haven’t I seen THAT interface style somewhere before?!

22. Ron Silverman
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 6:10 am

    pranav - You might be right. I have no idea why this particular “news” is been put on TechCrunch.

    Mike - care to elaborate on this??

23. Phil
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 6:54 am

    Seriously he’s whining about a stolen interface because of a blue bar and a little push pin icon??? Get a life!

    The Chinese steal much more important technology than this! Let’s do something about that first!

24. dandyna
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 7:05 am

    If I were Sina.com i would have chosen a better design to copy at :))

25. JB
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 7:17 am

    I thought that this was all decided a long time ago. Apple sued Microsoft for copying their “look and feel” and lost. Too bad for Microshaft!!

26. Serop
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 7:19 am

    Sina’s design looks way better! M$ has nothing to look at indeed..

27. Garry Wiseman
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 7:28 am

    I think people are missing the point of my post a little here. The part that surprised me was that it wasn’t a small start-up who “leveraged” our designs, but a search engine which claims to have over 200m unique users a month. I called out the pushpin as that basically a step beyond borrowing our hex codes and background images.

    The message you need to take away from this topic is that we need to be vigilant regarding IP (graphical or technical) being violated across borders. These guys have to understand that just because something was created in the US, it’s not OK to copy and paste and call it yours in China.

28. Ron Silverman
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 7:37 am

    “I think people are missing the point of my post a little here.”

    Garry - are you saying you post the “news” on TechCrunch? Mike didn’t write this??

    What’s going on here? TechCrunch is been “group blogged”??

29. Brian
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 7:43 am

    Ron:

    Um, no. He’s referring to his “post” here:

    http://teamexpo.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!ED26394D7E8C131B!363.entry

30. Ernest Millan
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 8:21 am

    Well, they do appear to have “stolen” the Mac OS X ‘Home’ icon.

31. goodspeed
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 8:32 am

    Live.com search results looks google-ish to me. Someone has to quit whining here.

32. Luke
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 8:35 am

    So M$ owns the color baby blue?

33. Adrian Madrid
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 8:44 am

    This is ridiculous. Besides all the points already made about MS integrity I must say that Sina’s site looks a lot like tons of Asian portal sites or portals anywhere. The color scheme? Please, light blue with orange highlights? I’ve seen it done a lot of times before. I must say it takes somebody from MS to be as arrogant to think they are innovating and everybody else is copying from them.

34. Dan
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 8:51 am

    I would consider Garry a non-a-hole if he made a followup post appologizing on behalf of MS to at least:

    -Alan Kay and the rest of Xerox Parc (Windows)
    -Doug Engelbart (Word)
    -Visicalc (Excel)
    -Diffie Helman (Powerpoint)
    -Netscape
    -The various AJAX homepage vendors (for Live.com)
    -A few dozen email vendors (Outlook)
    and, for old time’s sake,
    -Stacker.

    For a company that’s made a fortune ripping off other people’s work (including mine), I’d say that guy has a lot of nerve.

35. Sri
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 9:08 am

    Does someone have to remind Microsoft of their stealing ways? Apple sends them a prototype of Macintosh and they create Windows. Now, if you see a beta copy of Vista, looks exactly like Mac OS X.

    “Good artists copy, great artists, steal.” That’s the way it is…

36. Frank Cefalu
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 9:09 am

    I think every company has a right to push copyright infrigement if they so feel obliged. I agree with the team at Live.com, if someone steals work they should be punished. And since we does anyone own source code? We all start from the bottom of the totem pole, working our way up we all snag small ideas from others that improve ourselves.

    Stealing actual source code and just changing the name is completely different. And stealing graphics that took somone hours to do is out of hte question in my book. I completlty agree.

    If you have work you think M$ stole than take them to court. Make a class action lawsuit. Otherwise shut up. This is stupid this product loyalty crap.

    Live has been doing good things lately. Lets not forget that Microsoft is actually taking a stab at this Web2.0 community thing. Can’t be mad for them trying. It will only help us all in the future with more apps.

37. Uncle Sam
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 9:11 am

    What goes around comes around…

38. HC
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 10:43 am

    Here’s an idea. Why doesn’t MS sue them or use your BSA goons for this. I am sure it wouldn’t be much of a big deal.

    “Waahhhh…., they are using a color scheme similar to ours.” Grow Up!

39. Chinq
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 10:53 am

    They Steal everything, in the last 200 years the original thing to come out of China has been benwon balls

40. twig
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 11:22 am

    “Waaahhh, Mommy! Sina’s copying me, make her stop!”
    “Sina’s copying me, make her stop!”

    Oh and Frank “If you have work you think M$ stole than take them to court. Make a class action lawsuit. Otherwise shut up.”
    You have fucking got to be kidding me. My 10 dollars vs their 10 billion? You are an idiot if you believe that is a fair fight.

41. Alex
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 11:27 am

    They are stealing Mac OS X’s icons too! But it is quite famous that chineses like to take stuff other have made.

42. twig
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 11:30 am

    Jesus christ, alex. stereotype much? what else do you suppose those ‘dirty yellow bastards’ are famous for, math skills?

43. piranha
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 11:32 am

    The message you need to take away from this topic is that we need to be vigilant regarding IP (graphical or technical) being violated across borders.

    that’s an important message, but that message isn’t exactly strengthened by pointing at a babyblue bar and a pushpin icon and crying “theft”. sina’s site design doesn’t even remotely look close to microsoft’s. colour schemes are not IP. a single pushpin icon? i am sorry, that’s just too small to really tell, though at first glance it looks identical — i’d have to have the original files in hand to tell for sure. overall there’s not enough evidence to cry “rip-off” — certainly not from microsoft. there seems to be more evidence that the site graphics might have been cobbled together from various places because they don’t have a really unified style, and the site overall has the look and feel of so many portal sites. so, colour me unconvinced that microsoft has a case.

    as it stands i am highly surprised to find the accusation featured on techcrunch.

44. Frank Cefalu
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 11:33 am

    Twig, I think the chance of gaining millions of dollars from the smallest thing stolen an dused in massive amount of M$ applications is WORTH a loan at the bank. Think about it. It helps

45. Andrew
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 11:42 am

    Actually, Sina’s site is much better designed. The pushpin graphic is the only real infringement. Everything else is very different.

    I think Vista looks *alot* more like OS X than these sites look alike.

    What’s good for the goose . . .

46. twig
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 11:47 am

    and how big do you figure this “Loan” is going to have to be? How long can the MS lawyers afford to keep me tied up in legal minutia? After I’ve re mortgaged the house and refi’d the car and lost my wife and kids trying to work two jobs to keep up with the multiple “loans” all while the MS war chest has suffered no impact? Trust me. I HAVE thought about it! again. you have got to be fucking kidding me!

47. Frank Cefalu
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 11:56 am

    Twig do you know what a Class Action Lawsuit? Stop getting bent out of shape.

    A class action lawsuit is one filed by one or more people on behalf of themselves and a larger group of people who are facing the same issues.

    And PPL HAVE won class action lawsuits against M$
    http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/2883

48. ABCotaa
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 12:53 pm

    Looks like Garry needs a history lesson. As the Apple suit tells us.. you can’t copyright look and feel. How to prove IP with look and feel. Dude, it’s going to be hard to prove that the placement of graphics on a web page is some type of unique IP.

49. Frank Cefalu
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 1:02 pm

    Do you really think this is the upmost importance in Microsoft? Seriously. This are just two or three ppl from one deperatment firing up their day to complain about and not do work.

    lol.

50. Jimbo
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 1:24 pm

    I can’t read them funny characters.

51. Josh
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 1:37 pm

    It’s funny. A few days ago Digg sends a cease and desist to DiggGames.com and everyon here vehemently defends the move. Now a Chinese company rips a design from Microsoft (and that rip should be obvious to anyone with a design background), and everyone sides with the company that stole the design? Huh?

    Nice double standard, readers…

    (I know that isn’t an apples to apples comparison, but it’s close enough that the irony should shine through.)

52. Josh
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 1:43 pm

    (I should add that I think it was just the header that was a blatant rip… the rest is obviously “inspired by” … but not really that similar. Still, that’s a very unethical thing to do, and my previous comments still stand.)

53. Garry Wiseman
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 1:48 pm

    OK, here’s my last post on this topic..

    You can all stop quoting the Apple vs Microsoft case. If you read my original post clearly you’ll see they have physically copied graphics (icons in this case) that are copyrighted by Microsoft (and apparently Apple’s icons are in there too). That is not deemed “look and feel” or a UI concept as was the case of Apple vs MS. We had resources creating the original vector graphics (they aren’t from a library) which were then scaled to icons and incorporated into the site (very much like Apple’s icons that are on their site).

    Anyway, the origin of our blog post was that we were bemused by what would cause Sina to do such a thing, but not as distraught as some of the comments indicate (although we did go through a box of Kleenex to wipe our tears following all the hurtful anti-MS remarks).

    Well, I hope you’ve all enjoyed the Microsoft “controversy of the day” and have a good long weekend..

    P.S. Dan - I’m sorry..

54. Iz
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 1:56 pm

    I think Microsoft owes Edwin Moore an appology
    http://www.push-pin.com/mpphist1.html

    Since they so kindly ripped off the use of the push-pin. And why the technical term hex-codes? That makes it sound like programming code, when in fact it’s just a code that tells the browser what COLOR to display. Colors are not intellectual property unless you are the author of the universe! For that matter, what about windows? Microsoft didn’t invent them either! Or, how about the word “word”?

    Microsoft should try to be a little more creative in their names and symbols. Ordinary words and symbols should never be claimable as intellectual property, especially since they all existed BEFORE Microsoft did.

55. DC
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 3:51 pm

    “Phil: The Chinese steal much more important technology than this! Let’s do something about that first!”

    You’re absolutely right.

56. CHEN
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 4:10 pm

    Ok, so that single push-pin is similar, or maybe it is stolen. Now let me tell you how fool Garry Wiseman is:

    1) For those people who don’t understand Chinese, the design and layout of SINA.com is totally different from the one in Garry’s post. The first section on the right is “Popular Tags”, which is how most WEB2 web site use, the second section is “Buy and Sell”, but the items in this section is NOT organized in any way, while in MSN Live the categories are organized. The next three sections are “Housing”, “Auto”, and “Living”. The section on the left include “Hot Personal” (you can see picture of girls looking for boyfriend), and “Entertainment Posters” where you can see picture of stars in China.

    2) For those people who don’t know how the web design works, web designer either design their own images/icons, or use designs from other people. There are many MicroStock web sites to search for the graphics/vectors/illustrations for as cheap as $1. Go check out istockphoto.com / shutterstock.com / stockxpert.com and have a look yourself. Many designers will look at “inspirations” from other people’s design and photos and make their own. I have my own photo ideas copied. You just have no idea if the Chinese web site steal MSN Live image, or bought a cheap one from one of these web site which is probably produced by an American designer!

    So I am a Microsoft employee and I am a Chinese. I am ashamed of Garry Wiseman but that’s exactly the best way to get free publicity: find an easy target like a China.

57. CHEN
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 4:55 pm

    This SINA.com is a Nasdaq-listed company, with the symbol SINA:
    http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=sina

    SINA is also not the biggest search engine in China, it is the biggest portal (like Yahoo in US).

    So in Garry’s post he said “Couldn’t they afford to hire a designer?”. Is he is a racist? Or just use the stereotyping? It’s a shame that Garry as a Product Unit Manager (PUM) will give this comments. I believe he didn’t attend the diversity training at Microsoft.

58. Chenggn
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 5:35 pm

    Zeze, Lou Shang Ying Ming, Haha

59. Bill Gates
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 5:37 pm

    Ok, I will fire him.

60. Kelly Smith
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 5:44 pm

    Expo doesn’t even qualify as a “design” in my opinion. It’s a white page with boxes that have a colored border. We worked hard on imagekind.com and it has a distinct graphical design that is unique and colorful. Seriously…there is very little “design” going on here in the first place. Some “designer” at Microsoft got paid a whole pile of money for doing something that most photoshop jockeys could have done in an hour. Was the idea to use lots of white space an original concept?? Give me a break.

61. John Smith
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 5:59 pm

    So what. Microsoft has ripped of others work from time immemorial. I hate when web designers accuse other webdesigners of copying their design. So what. Eventually there will no longer be any unique designs left on the web and if one design works for one individual, then who the hell cares if it works for another. You cannot be entirely unique on the web and you are fooling yourself if you think you can. Garry Wiseman has his head in the sand and should leave it there with all those other who have a similar and idiotic opinion concerning replication of web designs. Stop whining and grow up to see the world for what it really is.

62. bill_Millan@yahoo.com
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 6:12 pm

    Quick - who invented The Gui and the Mouse?
    Microsoft - no they got it from apple and Apple took it from…
    Xerox

63. meanguy
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 7:13 pm

    They even used the same font — Segoe UI. Oh wait, it’s Frutiger. Oh way, Microsoft stole Frutiger. Oh wait, they didn’t. Did too. Did not. Let’s look at them side by… yawn.

64. Craig NuMark
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 8:48 pm

    window live is copying craigslist in many ways, the event calendar, housing, jobs…shame of MS

65. Arun Vijayan
    

    September 1st, 2006 at 10:02 pm

    Its the time to remember the Ubuntu - MSN Spaces issue
    http://offtopics.in/viewtopic.php?p=667&

66. Jules
    

    September 2nd, 2006 at 12:57 am

    What’s the big deal…you should be happy that someone wants to borrow your concept…it means you did something right!…you folks at MS just have to keep innovating to get ahead and stop whining about having your ideas copied. Everyone borrows and expands on each other’s ideas these days.

67. Jonty
    

    September 2nd, 2006 at 3:27 am

    Notwithstanding the ‘irony’ you are talking about, I would like to say that the Chinese have made copying a way of life and have scant respect for Intellectual Property.

68. DC
    

    September 2nd, 2006 at 5:24 pm

    It’s intelligibly, china is a police state, the totalitarian system cant produce creativity. What they can do is copy, copy, copy…

69. James
    

    September 3rd, 2006 at 3:51 am

    Um, they’re Chinese, that’s what the Chinese do.

70. Ken
    

    September 3rd, 2006 at 7:15 am

    Microsoft stole the Mac interface and don’t forget what Bill stole over 20 years ago from Apple…

    So Microsoft are just cry baby’s…

71. BrianY
    

    September 3rd, 2006 at 7:28 am

    To Garry Wiseman:

    Yes, cross-border IP violation is a serious topic and your intent to raise Sina’s case is well acceptable. But please consider the side effection:

    I believe you have noticed that some people start attacking China’s position on IP protection and some of those assaults are directly aiming at China and Chinese. Of course I believe it’s not your intent(right?) and those reactions are not within your control, but posting a blog in such a way like “us vs. them”, “US vs. China” did imply some negative thoughts. If you care your icon thing so much, have you contacted Sina on this and informed your PR\Legal guys in subsidiary of Microsoft China to investigate this case(I’m sure MS hired some PR\Legal guys in China, cuz MS is not a start-up that cannot afford that, is it?)

    crying in your product’s blog is not the best way to solve this IP case and your bemusement. You need some PR\legal lessons, Garry. When you talk in your product’s blog, you’re represting your employer. Consider it.

72. cenourinha
    

    September 3rd, 2006 at 10:16 am

    Microsoft - Introducting Another Copy…

73. todd
    

    September 3rd, 2006 at 5:54 pm

    I’m not surprised, several months ago, a Chinese computer “scientist” Chen Jin “invented” China’s first homegrown computer chip dubbed “Han Xin”. Turned out, he simply scratched away the logo from a Motorola chip with sandpaper and replaced it with his own! This communist regime needs lies to keep!

    Link: http://www.newscloud.com/read/61570

74. Cyril
    

    September 3rd, 2006 at 5:55 pm

    There are 2 things SINA has been doing so far: to copy and ripp-off people !

    I have been working in China on the online field for more than 5 years, and they battle along with Yahoo! China for being the worse business partner ever.

    Why? They are affiliating the account manager from advertising companies to litterally rip-off the buyers.

    How? The media account manager can enjoy some good money if he “sales” SINA spaces instead of other websites (Netease, Yahoo, Sohua…whatever).

    Oh yeah, they would eventually threaten you of writing an editorial to destroy your brand if you don’t plan to spend any money on their website !!

    Actually they even did it on purpose, and my company was not the only one to suffer this type of bad experience…

    DO NOT use their services, their audience target is a joke for most products and they eventually will give you fake traffic figures as they don’t even know how to track visitors (I was managing an entire channel on Sina 2 years ago).

    Duo xie nimen…

75. babablues
    

    September 5th, 2006 at 3:53 am

    what wags the world is.

76. Alan
    

    September 6th, 2006 at 2:06 pm

    the problem with Microsoft is that they need more design and creative interfaces in order to compete. Look at synapselife.com that site will be huge.

77. Philippe
    

    September 9th, 2006 at 5:28 pm

    Chen,

    Before you talk and start insulting workers and creators (no matter they work for Microsoft or other american companies), you should know what you’re talking abt.

    Try to find the original Live Expo Interface and you’ll see it’s 100% similar from the first pixel to the last.

    Now, just imagine what chinese people will think if ever Garry wants to bring Live Expo on the chinese market… They’ll all consider that Expo copied Sina !

    If you can’t understand that design is important than I’m sorry but you know nothing abt business.

    And I’ll finish by telling you that it’s a little old-fashion to say crap abt Microsoft. Maybe it’s time to grow up. For instance the latest news is that Bill Gates donated over USD 500,000,000 to help people and kids.

    Greetings to you and keep up the great work Garry, Expo is really a great feature. I love it.

78. Look at www.gooaa.com
    

    September 12th, 2006 at 4:09 pm

    Take a look at http://www.gooaa.com, a clear Google logo rip-off by a Chinese company.

79. Mike from Philly
    

    September 12th, 2006 at 5:33 pm

    from #77 “And I’ll finish by telling you that it’s a little old-fashion to say crap abt Microsoft. Maybe it’s time to grow up. For instance the latest news is that Bill Gates donated over USD 500,000,000 to help people and kids”…Until Microsoft(R) supports a non-browser specific Internet, I won’t be impressed with them. It is well-known that many companies/people believe Microsoft(R) wants total control of the Internet in addition to the “pc” market that it does not even have to really market to consumers…consumers are just given the “latest” by Microsoft(R) and are made to feel compelled that they have to “upgrade”. I wish Microsoft(R) would just focus on doing something right like improving it’s operating systems and/or Office suite…come on, windows xp keeps telling me that I have “unused icons on your desktop”…this kind of useless and annoying thing is just one example that needs to be changed. Does Microsoft(R) really belong in the video game business??? I really have to question that…Another example, Microsoft(R) wants to own the search engine department and crush google….what is wrong with having something called “CHOICE”…why is Microsoft(R) anti-choice…I would love to ask Gates and Ballmer this question, among others…

80. jdragon
    

    January 7th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

    good artists copy…GREAT ARTISTS STEAL…

81. grazitaly
    

    March 3rd, 2007 at 3:37 pm

    Yes jdragon, good artists copy..