A while ago, a man named Michael Hanscom got fired by Microsoft. He admitted his mistake and found a new job at another print house, not at Apple.

Apple got in a few issues themselves with their recently released MacOS X 10.3 "Panther". It among others was said to make data completely disappear, which could have been fixed months ago by applying a simple patch. They have released 10.3.1, which deals with these issues, yesterday. A columnist wrote that if Microsoft would have made this mistake, the would get a lot more trouble than Apple got. Continue reading by clicking read more below. On one hand, I agree with the columnist. He is right. On the other hand, I believe there is a basic difference. I wouldn't blaim you for calling me a Microsoft hater when reading this article, but I have tried my best to stick to the facts, and to the way things simply are.

See, Apple didn't get sued by even a single state in the US. Not to mention the lawsuit that the European Union filed against them, and that is to commence tomorrow. From what I've heard, Sun Microsystems and the CCIA will also partake in this trial behind closed doors.

Neither is Apple trying to dominate markets they weren't in from the start. The Apple Macintosh is theirs, and theirs only. It has always been that way and there seems to be no reason to change that. iTunes also was a new concept. In comparison, Microsoft is about to hit the mobile phone market. Not to mention the amazing thing with Microsoft initially doubting that "Internet" would not become popular, and now nearly controlling it.

Well I wouldn't say controlling. Dictating would be a better description. Microsoft's crave to buy Google isn't a harmless one, says The Inquirer. As already seen in MSN Search, this would mean that a lot of web sites will get censored. Of course, Microsoft can get sued for that, but will it help? Of course not. After all lawsuits lost, they continue doing what they always did.

Call me a Microsoft hater all you want, but if all these serious websites write this amount of negativity about Microsoft, please go tell them the same. In the future, Microsoft is going to unveil Longhorn, and the most important reason will of course be to restore their now weakened position in the desktop computer market, says The Register.

My personal view on the future is that Windows will mainly be an OS used in the United States, where alternatives are sought in all other parts of the world. Nothing lasts forever, and Microsoft will lose their leading role sooner or later. But seen the recent developments, this might happen earlier than anyone could ever have expected.