The idea of business is to make money. Wowee Microsoft cornered the market and stopped the competition from getting a fair crack of the whip.

If you can't stand the heat get out of the ****ing kitchen.

Most businesses are unethical and will employ any means to get where cthey want. Good luck to them I say. Its capitalism

Great attitude ! Can't wait to see how you feel when a few huge corporations start to piss on your parade. I expect you'll expect all the community support an legal aid you can get then...

Hey, wait don't you give advice about going to CAB about TP's ? So TP's have a right to rip people off by your logic, as long as they make a profit ?

Didn't you complain about a monopoly on distribution of a game using steam ?

Didn't you complain about a monopoly on M$ exam providers by prometric ?

So you support a lack of ethics for profit ? Why not become a bank robber or a hitman then ?

Profit is not a very good motive for anything. Ever heard the phrase money is the root of all evil ?

What about companies that put their employees at risk ? Would you like to take asbestos out of a building without a mask? After all masks cost money which reduces profits ?

Would you like to take drugs that make your head swell up like a mellon ? After all drug testing is expensive, and that hurts profits ?

Would you like to have health insurance that doesn't pay out ? After all paying out on premiums hurts profits ?

Get the picture ?

Huge corps piss on everyone they always have and always will. It's just like the hippies going on about capitalist greed and how they should fight the corperations. The problem with hippies is they can't get past the first joint of the day so they just talk about it and do nothing.

I don't have a problem with TPs charging loads for their courses, my problem with TPs is that they overcertify people. I merly try to tell people there is a cheaper way to study. It when people have been pissed on then I say go to the CAB

I like chicken!

OK back on topic

Oh, and they do this because of ? Yes, you guessed it profit ! Get person to take (A). 2 year MCSE course at £6000 instead of (B). 3 month A+ at £600, what a surprise they advise option A.

And just *where* did my thread take a wrong turn?

One last comment about the monopolies, if you think that Apple wouldn't be doing the exact same business practices as Microsoft if they had the market control then your out of your mind. Okay back to topic, I'm excited about Windows 7, just don't know how much improvement it will be over Vista, I just switched to Vista and really enjoy it so far, what's going to be so new about 7?

Ah, no:

Money itself - even profit itself - is not evil.

Profit is not a very good motive for anything? It's THE reason companies stay in business. They don't do business just to keep you employed or to simply break even...

I think we are in general agreement, I think companies should be in business to provide a service that benefits society AND make a profit, thats why governments, laws and regulation exist, free markets and the pursuit of profit purely for itself can lead to some behaviour that is very harmful to society.

Markets can be very dumb and unpredictable. Weak financial regulation, the pursuit of money / greedy bankers have lead to our current financial crisis. Derivatives traders have previously even been able to make the price of wheat rise which could cause thousands in the third world to starve. In another instance in south america one country privatised the water supply overnight, meaning the poor no longer had access to their own rain water ! People would have died of thirst, so that a few could profit. Only after rioting was the law revoked.

You really don't have to look very hard to see many examples. Even in networking, heard of Braess's paradox, it demonstrates the same principle, that individualistic behaviour, even if it follows consistent rules on an individual basis cannot be guaranteed to lead to the best solution for society. Also look at Game Theory, it shows how you can build and simulate these kinds of behaviour, the strategies that can emerge and likely outcomes.

Thats why we have regulation, which was one of my earlier points.

Afterall drug dealing is profitable, but most countries see it as harmful to society, so they pass legislation to make it illegal.