Why do you boycott Wal-Mart?

I boycott Gamestop.  I hate what they're doing to developers.

I boycott gamestop used games only.

Underpaying workers, union-busting, encouraging their employees to rely on social services because their pay is so low, strongarming record labels and movie studios, forcing companies to comply with their "moral standing" by threatening removal of a product...

Want me to go on? I'll pay an extra dollar at Target if it keeps another nickel out of the wallets of those damned Waltons. Besides, Target is based in Minneapolis and I'm a Minnesota homer (despite the fact that I have lived in California for over half my life now).

"Also my definition of business is it's a scheme to make money". That is also a good definition for scam, con artist, hoax, pyramid scheme. Your vision of the market seems to be the same as a sport event. But the business world or the market is not like a football game, one loss and you are out forever (in most cases). Another difference is that you do need to smash the competition into oblivion to win, 1% marketshare for some kinds of marketsis like heaven.

The way you say it is just wrong. It is like McDonald`s or Burguer King destroying a small nacho stand just because their sodas are cheaper.

Competition is about marketshare and profits, not about killing the competition. Also it is illegal to aim for a monopoly in most developed countries.

Microsoft is not evil. They are idiots sometimes, but they're not evil.

I think there is something wrong with Games for Windows Live.

How's that?

If you have a powerful company, they will inevitably overpower ever other company in every market. While it's the "ultimate goal" of capitalism to own it all, it causes one company to have all the power and would quickly place one man in global control of everything, including food stocks, farms, oil, and necessities of life. If you defy such corporation, should you be shot by one of their paid mercenaries? Who would stop them from having such force? If you don't buy their products they could send a hit squad after you. Does any of this sound evil to you? Yes, I realize I went to the far extreme, but total domination of any market could lead to that. Seriously. If GM owned all the car companies in the world, they could control all the shipping, all the businesses (deny selling to one business in favor of their new upstart shipper?) Once they control that market, they turn their sites on another, steel mills. Buy them all up, own the railroads, construction, etc.

Monopolies are detrimental to EVERYBODY, except the ones in charge (and arguably, even the ones in charge.) Gamers, programmers, businesses... everybody.

In the case of why Microsoft is specifically evil? What would happen if Balmer ran the company into the ground? Let's say Microsoft closed shop, took the keys, and denied anyone the ability to use their source code unless they paid them 100 trillion dollars. Should we be forced to comply? I mean, Microsoft built that code form the ground up (hah, yeah ... not.) They should have full rights to determine how it's used or if it's used? What would the businesses that run Windows exclusively do for patches and support? The economy would fall, the Great Depression wouldn't hold a candle.

Youyoung'uns don't get it. You missed the REAL evil Microsoft.  THere was a time in the UNited States where you vould not buy a microprocessor chip, from any company, for any pupose, without paying Microsoft $55. You want to build your own PC? run Linux? Os/2? Write your own OS? sure. Buy a chip, but you have to pay Microsoft anyway. It was that bad.  They created entire new ways to 'force' people to buy their product. It was truly disgusting and evil on q whole new scale.  By the time the government stepped in, way way too late. Now they have 40B in cash and make, waht 4-5 billion per quarter? They are more powerfyul economically then the US government and still capable of great evil...

The stuff int eh last ten years, IE, foxpro, vista, etc is nothing compared to their early crimes. They destroyed Lotus, nearly destroyed iBM, could destroy any PC maker they wanted and could still do it today.  They could kill Dell in 60- days.  Cancel the WIndows license and Dell vanishes. They used to do that as a matter of routine...

If you wre microsoft, and someone opened a shop around the corner you woudl force eveyr pedestrian who walked by your shop to purchase a product from you. You would do it with intimidation, threat of lawsuits and plain old force. If you sell oranges, and some walks by they MUST buy an ornage from you or pay for the fruit anyway.  That is what MSFT had going in the late 80's early 90's. Evil.

Attempting to limit the debate? What a bunch of bullshit. The biggest reason it's bullshit is that they not only do all of this, but have no problem breaking the law to get it done. Add on top of this all of the shit they pulled with DOS way back when and that their founding product was created on stolen computing time at a University. Microsoft treat the law with impunity, thus I hate them.