A day of thought

Shout out to all who'll read this though this is just for me to vent...

I just had a double tooth extraction 2 days ago, damn my wisdom teeth, and I am now having phantom pains. I really don't see why the human body even has wisdom teeth, what the hell are they good for except making the lives of people who don't have dental insurance a nightmare.
I'm on a tight budget, like most people these days I reckon, so when it comes to insurance I usually sulk away. I figure if I ain't broken or bleedin to death then I'm fine. Hopefully there will be some serious medical reform coming soon, not some frontal facade to trick people into believing something different.

There's another thing that I have been thinking about today that doesn't have anything to do with my personal hygiene or health care. I've been giving some thought to the current anti-trust case that the European Commission has against Microsoft. Now before I go any further with my thoughts I just want to say that if you are a fanatic with no open mind then please redirect yourselves now.
Just a little background: The EC has filed anti-trust suits against Microsoft several years ago because MS was bundling Windows Media Player with Windows, and they believed that it was monopolistic and stifling other competitors.
So back to current events. Now the European Commission is filing suit against MS once more, except this time it's about Internet Explorer. It is their belief that with bundling I.E. with the Windows OS that it is giving MS an unfair advantage and once again becoming a monopoly and stifling competitors. This recent suit came about after a complaint from the Norwegian company Opera.

Now here's my stance. Do I believe that MS should open some of it's source so that other companies can provide workable alternatives to MS's own programs? Yes, to a degree. The Windows OS is a major player in the OS world, and thus should be allowed it's privacy. If you open too much source then you will have fanatics chomping at the bit to introduce more worms and viruses to cause nothing more than mere chaos. Then again you will also have those who would wish to introduce hidden loggers into your OS so that they can efficiently steal your credentials and thus your life. This is why a closed source can be a good thing, it provides security. To those who would point out that Ubuntu, or any Linux based OS is secure, I would say not entirely. It's just that why would you bother with just a handful of people that use these OS's when you can design something that would effect millions.

Also, when it comes to browsers, I hate to say it, but Opera just ain't what it used to be. There are only four main Browsers right now duking it out.
1. Internet Explorer: Provided by Microsoft
2. FireFox: Provided by Mozilla
3. Safari: Provided by Apple
4. Chrome: Provided by Google

If you look at Browser leadership, Opera is a dying breed. Yes, it's true that I.E. holds a majority over the other browsers, and yes that's because it is bundled with Windows. However, the gap between browsers is closing. That's because people who actually care about what they use are making pro-active choice of which browser they want to use.

I personally have used all of the above browsers including Opera at one point. My personal favorite is Chrome, though I am not using it at the moment because there are a few features that cannot be implemented just yet and those features are key points for me. So for the time being I use I.E. 8.

Now MS has offered to unbundle I.E. from it's near release of Windows 7 from the European Release, however, the EC isn't happy with this and they want to go further. They would have MS actually come with other browsers bundled with Windows so that users could choose which they would want to use.
Are you kidding me??? Since when does forcing a company to not only offer, but advertise a competitors program become a fair advantage to all? This recent stance from the EC is nothing more than a "Because I said so" routine and smells rather peculiar with the fact that the regulation against Windows Media Player has come to an end, at least with a constant review against MS, as well as the complaint from a rather low key browser company.
The sad thing is that other companies are jumping on this bandwagon, including Google and FireFox, as well as Safari if I recall correctly. More like buzzards to a corpse, though I highly doubt that MS is a corpse, or will be any time in the near Future.

If companies truly feel that Microsoft is a monopoly then I suggest that they develop a program that has appeal for all. Either that or get off their asses and actually do some real work to improve their product instead of passing of the crap that they say is competitive.

EC's case does nothing more that stifle a Free Market society, a place where the consumer decides the outcome of businesses and products. Where is the case against other companies and OS's to force them to abide by the same rules as Microsoft?

Since my ranting a raving is coming to an end, I just want to say, that if you don't like what you are seeing with the way Government is handling things....Then get out there and bitch, vote, write letters, form petitions, do anything that can get your voice and choice heard. If you choose to sit idly back and let Government make your choices for you and essentially let them live your life, then I say that you have no rights and no voice that SHOULD be heard.

well that's all i can type for now, me poor wittle fingers is bleeding lol