Re: Microsoft and Apple

[Jude DaShiell]

I should probably write a little something on this topic.  When I got a 
computer with windows '98 on it I ran into many problems because I made 
the mistake of also buying an early version of Office 2000 to go with it. 
That happened in August of 1999 and the sales people over at Dell did not 
warn me about the problems I was about to encounter either.  The operating 
system and Office 2000 fought together so badly that I was reinstalling 
windows '98 about twice a month.  I wrote and told representatives at 
Microsoft that I was doing this using a set of brailled instructions and 
waiting for the CD to stop spinning so I could tell when to do the next 
installation step.  They said people shouldn't have to do that and to help 
Starting with Windows NT they'd include Screen Narrator.  They said it 
would be and remain a basic screen reader so as not to cause the 
already-existing screen reader industry to start screaming.  That 
certainly is the first and maybe the only time I've ever heard of 
Microsoft ever having taken an approach to actual or potential competition 
like that and now that I think of it it does sound strange given their 
conduct both before and after screen narrator's debut.  That's a little 
background; and I'm probably not the only one who had to resort to the use 
of brailled instructions for Windows '98 Microsoft found out about.