seriously

they have lost the plot,

that they can get into that kind of a PR situation and not recognise it from the outset is indicative that they are not politically aware.

which bodes badly for an intelligent solution to the up&coming licensing monopoly scandal.

the windows XP fiasco is an uncivilised way to treat users and it is all the political leverage the antitrust people need to cook MS's goose. But it is MS itself who lit the fire.

I really thought that Bill, with his donations to the AIDS charity 'n' all, was beginning to get beyond that kind of self destruction, too bad.

The real issue is that the software is over priced, if they get over that hump they will win friends, but the prices I have seen quoted are of course per machine and not per copy and they dont seem to have reduced the price accordingly.

They may hope their revenue will sky rocket if they charge per machine more than they charged per copy of Win9x, but their name will become loathed and hated even more than it is already.

I believe they will meet with opposing forces they are currently not sufficiently imaginative or aware enough to even conceive exist.

I am reminded of the Intel zaibatsu's eventual climbdown over Rambus prices.

Experience is a hard school, but fools will learn no other.