While Popper is not my favorite, he did nail the Plato to Kant to Hegel transmission line to the 20th century dictators clearly. All Platonists dismiss the evidence of their senses and suffer an overblown opinion of their self-importance like Bill Gates.

OK, so your justification for throwing Microsoft and Bill Gates under the bus is another antitrust suit, a bunch of misleading and/or incorrect details about that suit and a conspiracy theory about a competition between Microsoft and Apple in which no legitimate laws were broken, (anti-trust laws are not legitimate).

Come on. I am getting tired enough of Microsoft products to seriously consider switching all my stuff to Linux or something but you're not helping make the case for switching.

So the question still stands. Was Bill Gates a socialist prior to the 90's antitrust suits? Was he a crony? Was he an environmentalist? Or is all this just his way of getting revenge for a vicious attack on him and his company?

I found this article while looking for information on this subject. Check it out if you want some insight into the mentality of the people pushing the antitrust garbage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/04/bus...

We did do better till T Roosevelt began the backward slide. We are now regressing at an accelerating rate.

Divide socialists into two camps; everything will be clearer then (on this subject, anyway). One camp is adolescents (of any age) that believe in leprechauns and world peace. The sheeple. There is hope for their education, though some may take decades and some never finish the Middle school. The second camp are the people that know perfectly well how they are screwing others, but it doesn't matter, mainly because those that are being screwed, the sheeple, don't deserve any better.

Hello Jan,
Indeed. Einstein was brilliant in his field, but... many are unaware of his ill-founded dedication to the league of nations. Some people because of their outstanding intellect in a particular field make incredible leaps for humanity, yet seem to be lacking common sense. Many people fallaciously seem to believe that these people must also hold the wisdom of the world and answers to all problems... The Media is filled with such followers.
Respectfully,
O.A.

well as long as you are happy with me, OA lol :)

Greetings TexOwl,
Bill was in the right place and had the right idea at the right time. He was smart enough to answer the door when opportunity knocked. He doesn't strike me as a well rounded individual. His philosophical foundation is wanting. Unfortunately some of the software I must use requires a MS OS.
Respectfully,
O.A.

Hello sdbhalling,
It is true what has been said about "those that do not remember history..."
Regards,
O.A.

Yes! :)

Hello Abaco,
Exactly! The advocates are always those that would benefit at the expense of others, or for which it would no longer harm, but wish power or accolades. For Gates it would also serve to feed his altruistic leanings.
Respectfully,
O.A.

I wonder what might save us from the predatory greed of this mental light weight? It might be worth thinking about - Few people are beholden to the fortunes of timing and chance as Bill Gates and very few are as universally detested for his and his Company's hypocrisy!

Hello richrobinson,
I shake my head and wonder how so many seemingly intelligent people manage to succeed with such a poor understanding of economics, and how Marxist political systems actually work out in practice historically.
He might as well say "I got mine."
It would be good if they took a deeper look at natural history and the climate over time too, but that is apparently too much to ask...
Regards,
O.A.

Hello broskjold22,
A lot of good points... I have also noticed a lot of ex post facto, attempted of late.
So many things this administration is doing, seem to be by design, with the object being the destruction of our unique heritage and prosperity.
Respectfully,
O.A.

Colorful! :)

I shrugged MS at home in 2010 and went Apple.

Currently in my retirement, I'm doing some development work on a Linux system and found the "Libre Office" suite of office apps works quite well when you need office tools. The same suite can be installed on MS or Apple systems, too, and it's a free download (make a donation if you like it). It's native files can be sent unconverted to any OS using Libre Office or you can export the files into MS compatible formats. So far I haven't experienced any problems other than the usual learning curve getting used to another office product.

For one reference, check out the case of DR DOS. DR DOS was an operating system for 8088/8086/80286, competing with MS DOS and IBM DOS. It was better than any others. MS Windows 3.0 and 3.1 ran on top of DOS. MS programmed Windows to crash when DR DOS was detected and display a message to call MS support. The techs were instructed to ascertain that DR DOS was used and “inform” the caller that DR DOS is what caused the problem, “suggesting” that they buy “genuine” MS DOS. Thus, DR DOS went out of business and MS easily pushed IBM DOS out as well. This was in courts for 10 years, eventually making MS pay DR DOS developers about $10M. Now, MS had monopoly of the PC operating system (DOS) and 10 years later paid $10M from a multi-billion market that it now controlled. I would call that very good leveraging…
As to the “anti-trust” IE case – after years in the courts, MS was found “guilty” – and the penalty?! - $1B settlement, with $900M of MS software, at retail prices, being “donated” to schools and $100M for installation of that software. Now, before anyone gets impressed, recall that Apple has spent a fortune trying to donate free machines and software to schools with a very clear intent that when the students graduate, they will ask for Apple products in their workplaces. With one brilliant stroke, MS wiped out Apple’s dominance in schools, replaced it with their product and assured a monopoly in the workplace. Brilliant!
I might have relayed this fable once before, but it is just too appropriate for this case:
The forest animals put the Pike on trial. The Pike was a very bad fish – it was accused of terrorizing the river, eating smaller fish and leaving orphans. Many witnesses were heard from, many speeches – the Pike’s guilt was totally proven. Well, the question then came up as to the form of punishment that it deserved, and a death sentence was unanimous. So the animals voted and decided to drown the Pike in the river!

I would work for Trump; never for Gates

For an operating system, try ubuntu. There is also an office suite that almost exactly mimics ms office (there are some formatting issues). What's more, it's all free (open source).

I think the government did him some injustice some
years ago; and some Objectivists, believing him to
be a sort of Hank Rearden, tried to reach out to him, and said there was no record of a response by
Bill Gates.--It appears that they made a great mistake if they thought he was a Rearden. He
seems more like an FDR, except that (from what
I understand) FDR inherited his money and so-
cial position. I expected that a self-made man,
at least, would be better than that.

Why should he become an even bigger target for hate, when he already gets everything he wants the same way Trump does?

Not quite. MS has produced very little by themselves. Most of their early products were stolen. Sometimes they would buy a company for their product, sometimes blatantly steal it. In court, they would pay a fee for theft, which, years later when the court would force them to finally pay, was a small fraction of what they stole. Gates has worked the government/"legal" system from the beginning. The "anti-trust" Explorer case was a huge win for MS that established the monopoly.

In our recent history, we've had two short dynasties followed by the Sun God. No Republic can stand up to that!

Popper was half right. He misses the most important reason for Plato being the inspiration for these people-which at the metaphysical/epistemological level -


ONE CANNOT KNOW REALITY

the best we get is a blurry version of reality. This is not inconsistent with Popper's overall ideas. so, can we say Popper is complacent with Plato

Global temperatures have not risen in over a decade and yet China and India want us to pay reparations for emitting carbon since the inception of the industrial use of oil. I said previously we don't accept ex post facto laws, even if we accepted a UN resolution - which we should not. I am sure we're all in agreement.

But if the Democrats get into the UN and compromise everything, we will get stuck paying the bill. The Republicans have no real strategy to deal with a UN resolution besides rejecting the resolutions, but do we trust them to follow through? Meanwhile, Obama cuts our military. This is where strategy arises.

Basically, here's the plan. "America is addicted to oil." Thus, we need "rehabilitation", not punishment. Rather than allow other nations to sue us, we commit to "infrastructure" changes and, hell, might as well through in tariffs on foreign oil to pay for it. Then, we use our war on drugs strategy to place the blame on the producers: OPEC, asking them to pay for half of our bill.

Sounds ridiculous? Then consider why other nations would hold us to a higher standard than they hold themselves, claiming that we are destroying the world and have been since... since the Industrial Revolution.

The insane envy of nations requires a strong military. Obama wants to be liked and is so angry at the rest of us for not being liked. By whom? By hypocrites, looters, and frauds? Give me a break.

As for Gates, I'll never want to use his product ever again.

Another good reason to switch your OS to LINUX Ubuntu. Between WIN 10 and Gates collectivist orientation I am beginning to wonder if Microsoft products are safe. I am running WIN 7 on one of my machines and I keep seeing a lot of network activity even when my browser is turned off. What is my computer telling Microsoft about my system?