by Flemming Funch
From CommonMe and PseudoRandom:"If you want to understand how the world views the US, it is probably very similar to the way we view Microsoft:
Extremely successful, much of it appears to be undeserved.
We are totally dependent upon them, and there isn't much of an alternative.
Becoming too successful in our niche simply means that we will attract their attention.
We like it when we see them fail.
We are uncomfortable when we see them fail because they just keep working at it until they get it right -- they will always be back. Unless, of course, it is determined to be an uninteresting market.
They don't care about us. We are just a source of revenue. The quality of their products and support is only as much as absolutely necessary to keep us in the fold.
We hate them, but if they offered us a job, we would join them in a second and gleefully begin to oppress our former colleagues." Hm, interesting comparison. Now, what is likely to bring Microsoft down into a more humble place is *Open Source*. What does that bring to the comparison? Will the American Empire fall, just like the Soviet Union did, because new technologies and spontaneous cooperation makes it impossible to block open communication, and much more desirable to be free to gather your own information and make your own choices? Maybe it is inevitable that a slow and centralized bureaucracy eventually becomes irrelevant. Even one that controls thousands of nuclear warheads, and the mass media, and the production facilities, and the banks.
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