Hello. Need help here.
This thread isn't for the faint of heart. It started like this: my girlfriend is going to buy a Mac in a month or two. In the mean time, I've given her my original iMac with Jaguar on it so she could get used to the MacOS. She started talking to an old friend, let's just call him Dickhead from now on (or Dick, for short), tells her this:
"you know whats funny....Bill Gates owns the majority of Mac and their his chief cometitor"
The LAST thing I want is her to get nervous about buying a Mac and listening to all that FUD that's out there so I reply to her email with this:
"Bill Gates does NOT own Apple. This is a long story and I'm gonna give you the short short version: In 1980s, Apple invented the first commercially available GUI (graphic user interface). In 1984, Apple released the most famous of ALL computers and that was the original Macintosh, which featured a cute, cuddly, all-in-one design! , the introduction of something called a 'hard' diskette (3.5 inch floppy, everyone else used the 5.25 inch floppy floppies, remember those??), the world's FIRST computer with this funny invention called a mouse (it was amazing! You move this thing next to your computer and the pointer on the screen mimics your moves!), AND the first user friendly GUI (up
until this point, everyone was using the command line interface, you know: DOS, UNIX, etc). So, this new computer, the Apple Macintosh, was really new, and really hot. Bill Gates (whom at this point had JUST
started his own little company called Microsoft) decided they NEEDED to
develop applications (also called programs) for the new Mac, and doing
so required extensive knowledge on how the OS (operating system) on this new Mac worked. (An operating system literally makes your computer run. Windows is an OS, the Macintosh uses the MacOS, and even your car and your cell phones have operating systems! ! Without the OS, things couldn't run and your machine would just sit there, a nice expensive paper weight.) So, Bill and his company required knowledge
on how the MacOS worked so they can write programs for it and then they took this knowledge and reverse-engineered it secretly into their own operating system, which they called Windows. Apple was pissed that
Bill Gates backstabbed them the way he did, but Windows SUCKED SO MUCH (seriously), that they didn't worry about it. It wasn't until SIX YEARS later that the first useable version of Windows came out (called
Windows 3.1 in the early 90s). THAT is when Apple started worrying. So, they sued. They said Windows was a blatant, poorly executed copy of the MacOS, which it was. Years and years and years passed, and Apple dropped off while Microsoft grew bigger (by exploiting, copying, bullying, and buying out other companies). By this time, it's 1997-98, Apple is in dire straights, in desperation they ! bring back Steve Jobs
(who was ousted in 1985), Steve Jobs takes over the company and decides the only way for Apple to survive is to buddy up to Microsoft, so they come up with a deal: Microsoft will develop KICK-ASS products for the
Macintosh, give Apple 150 million dollars (which was paid for in stock so Microsoft ended up profiting from this little 'helpful hand' - some people might actually call this 'inside trading') and in return, Apple would drop their lawsuit against Microsoft (at this point in history it
didn't matter who won the case, the damage had been done), bundle Internet Explorer as the default browser on the MacOS (Netscape was winning the browser war and Microsoft needed an edge) and Apple and Microsoft would be buddy-buddy - at least until their contract ran out five years later (this month).
THAT'S the short version of the story. The REALLY short answer is: no, Microsoft does not own Apple. Your friend is a piece of shit who doesn't know his ass from his elbow. The majority of people out there don't know Macs but think they do. You'll get the common: "Yea, they're good for graphics" crap from a lot of people because when the Macintosh came out IN 1984(!!!!!) they were the first computers to be able to draw things on the screen and be able to print them out. (This is one of those myths you're gonna have to wade through. Most people are ignorant, and they don't care to hear the truth.) The truth is now: Apple doesn't need Microsoft like they did five years ago, but Microsoft is still developing kick ass products for the Mac, products SO good, it has Windows people bitching that Microsoft doesn't do as good a job for Windows. That's because they DON'T because Windows isn't a good OS to begin with. It was a hack job then and it's a hack job now, and that's because the foundations of Windows hasn't been changed much. Windows 3.1 was based on DOS, Windows 95 was based on Wind! ows 3.1, Windows 98 was based on 95, Windows ME was based on 98..... which means Windows ME was based on an OS that's been around and whose foundations have been creaking since the late eighties! WindowsXP is Windows2000 with a new interface (conviniently called XP after Apple spent YEARS marketing MacOS - you guessed it- X! and Windows 2000 was a rewritten Windows NT which was Microsoft's first venture into the server platform in the early 90s!
MacOS X, however, is based on a 30 year old system called UNIX, but in this case this is REALLY GOOD! The reason is UNIX is OPEN SOURCE, which means it is freely available online. People have been hacking at it and playing with it since the 70s! What that means is because MILLIONS of people have worked on UNIX, all of the bugs, all of the security holes, all of the crap has been taken out and updated as time went on to make UNIX the most stable, secure platform out there. These wasn't ONE company work! ing on UNIX just to make money(like Microsoft does with Windows), there were thousands of people making UNIX better at any given time out of love for that OS, NOT for money, NOT for fame, but to say they helped make something great better. Apple took this foundation, they updated it to make it faster and better and more stable, and then they threw a brilliantly clever and simple to use GUI on it called Aqua. THAT is MacOS X. A UNIX core with the ease of use of Apple's design. (I'll show you the core of the OS some time, but all it really looks like is DOS.) I'm sure you've heard of the OS called Linux, well Linux is a derivative of UNIX and they've been trying to do with Linux for twelve years what Apple has done with MacOS X in two. Linux, if you haven't heard of it, is an offspring of UNIX (based on UNIX) and both UNIX and Linux are both used for high end, mission critical servers and computers. Hell, most of the web sites out there you visit are ! run on UNIX or Linux! This is important because these machines HAVE to be up 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
And THAT is the power of MacOS X: an extremely powerful UNIX core designed for master programmers and the absolute geek of geeks (whom get paid A LOT OF ****ING MONEY! lol) with the simplicity and beauty of an Apple interface.
It's been called a miracle of sorts by everyone who knows what they're
talking about.
Oh, by the way, the short short short answer is: no, Microsoft does not
own Apple. lol
And I'm spent."
I think that's pretty accurate, short version of Apple's history. I had to keep it simple because she's not computer literate at all. I know the Windows history was a bit brief, almost too brief, but it got the point across.
She writes back:
I fowarded it to that friend lol.....put him in his place lol. But this is what I got in reply...
"honey....no its a fact...I spent 4 years in bryant getting it shoved down my throught, the NY times did a big story on it in the early 90's, 93 I think, he doesn't own them, he owns a majority of the stock other than that he has nothing to do with them. Apple has almost gone down the shithole repeatadly since 1985, Bill Gates has personally bailed them out on several occations"
"lol.....the product and the business are two very different things, thats! why computer geeks and business people get in arguments computer geeks think its all cut and dry its far from that, its more complicated than you can imagine"
Now I'm irritated. And the thing is, I don't usually get irritated over ANYTHING, ever mind something this stupid, but I'm pissed so I send her:
"I love how condescending he is, how he acts like he's better than everyone else because he's a 'business man.' Truly, it seems that the only business he's in is selling bullshit. He sounds more like a sales weasel than a business man, though. I've worked with enough people in sales to know sincerity from this line of shit he's trying to sell. "Honey, it's more complicated then you could understand." Nice. Tell Mr. Salesman to back his up with facts, because I know the history of the company I'm passionate about.
Tell your friend to check his facts on google.com and then get back to
me. I will take a non-reply as I'm right, which I am."
OK here is his reply...
"Honey, I love you but your boyfriend knows alot of useless history, but HE DOESN'T KNOW DICK ABOUT BUSINESS he is right microsoft doesn't own Apple, Bill Gates, bailed his failure of a FRIEND steve jobbs out, when things weren't so good, bill gates personally owns 57% of Apple stock tell Mike to pick up a ****ING WALL STREET JOURNAL AND SAVE THE ****ING HISTORY LESSON."
"he is right about one thing, windows is a piece of shit of an OS, Unix and LIUX are much better and much more stable"
"hun...mike got a typical computer education, he cant see farther than his monitor" "he should really learn to open up a newspaper and wake up, tha fact is PC's rule the world and they always will end of story" " honey I love you to death, and I dont mean any disrespect to your boyfriend""mike doesn't seem to get it that microsoft is not Bill Gates, Bill gates has personally invested billions into apple, most recently to quell antitrust problems, "
"85 was their most successful year, and their most profitable, thats because their output/sale ratio was nearly 100%, but it was 100% of very little production"
"its complicated, and if you get your facts from Apple, he'll never get it, its not even a bad thing, Steve Jobbs owns lots of stock in microsoft, the guys are best friends for christ sake"
Mr response:
"Back it up with facts and links. That's all. Enough of this wasting time. I got insulted, hence why I'm doing this. But tell Mr. Condescending to back it up with links. That's all. If it's in a newspaper, it's online. Even he should know that. Excuse me while I go ignore the world beyond my monitor.
Nice friends, by the way. Good to know that's who you like to keep company: people who talk out their ass who can't back their shit up yet talk down to you at the same time they're saying they love you."
Hmm... maybe I should not have taken it out on her, but still! I was pissed. I hate ignorant people. And I hate even more when good people hang out with ignorant people. (I'm a believer that you are who you hang out with, for the most part.)
Anyways, here's where you guys can help. I suppose the entire point here is that he's trying to tell me that Bill Gates PERSONALLY owns 57% of Apple's stock. ( <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> ) What I need is a way to find out how much the stock is divided and who owns what percentage. Is there a way to do this, some difinitive proof that this kid doesn't know what he's talking about?
Oh, by the way! I found out later from Sasha, my gf, that this dude is 21 years old, fresh out of college, and he IS a sales person. LOL Did I call it, or what? Man! Young people. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
"you know whats funny....Bill Gates owns the majority of Mac and their his chief cometitor"
The LAST thing I want is her to get nervous about buying a Mac and listening to all that FUD that's out there so I reply to her email with this:
"Bill Gates does NOT own Apple. This is a long story and I'm gonna give you the short short version: In 1980s, Apple invented the first commercially available GUI (graphic user interface). In 1984, Apple released the most famous of ALL computers and that was the original Macintosh, which featured a cute, cuddly, all-in-one design! , the introduction of something called a 'hard' diskette (3.5 inch floppy, everyone else used the 5.25 inch floppy floppies, remember those??), the world's FIRST computer with this funny invention called a mouse (it was amazing! You move this thing next to your computer and the pointer on the screen mimics your moves!), AND the first user friendly GUI (up
until this point, everyone was using the command line interface, you know: DOS, UNIX, etc). So, this new computer, the Apple Macintosh, was really new, and really hot. Bill Gates (whom at this point had JUST
started his own little company called Microsoft) decided they NEEDED to
develop applications (also called programs) for the new Mac, and doing
so required extensive knowledge on how the OS (operating system) on this new Mac worked. (An operating system literally makes your computer run. Windows is an OS, the Macintosh uses the MacOS, and even your car and your cell phones have operating systems! ! Without the OS, things couldn't run and your machine would just sit there, a nice expensive paper weight.) So, Bill and his company required knowledge
on how the MacOS worked so they can write programs for it and then they took this knowledge and reverse-engineered it secretly into their own operating system, which they called Windows. Apple was pissed that
Bill Gates backstabbed them the way he did, but Windows SUCKED SO MUCH (seriously), that they didn't worry about it. It wasn't until SIX YEARS later that the first useable version of Windows came out (called
Windows 3.1 in the early 90s). THAT is when Apple started worrying. So, they sued. They said Windows was a blatant, poorly executed copy of the MacOS, which it was. Years and years and years passed, and Apple dropped off while Microsoft grew bigger (by exploiting, copying, bullying, and buying out other companies). By this time, it's 1997-98, Apple is in dire straights, in desperation they ! bring back Steve Jobs
(who was ousted in 1985), Steve Jobs takes over the company and decides the only way for Apple to survive is to buddy up to Microsoft, so they come up with a deal: Microsoft will develop KICK-ASS products for the
Macintosh, give Apple 150 million dollars (which was paid for in stock so Microsoft ended up profiting from this little 'helpful hand' - some people might actually call this 'inside trading') and in return, Apple would drop their lawsuit against Microsoft (at this point in history it
didn't matter who won the case, the damage had been done), bundle Internet Explorer as the default browser on the MacOS (Netscape was winning the browser war and Microsoft needed an edge) and Apple and Microsoft would be buddy-buddy - at least until their contract ran out five years later (this month).
THAT'S the short version of the story. The REALLY short answer is: no, Microsoft does not own Apple. Your friend is a piece of shit who doesn't know his ass from his elbow. The majority of people out there don't know Macs but think they do. You'll get the common: "Yea, they're good for graphics" crap from a lot of people because when the Macintosh came out IN 1984(!!!!!) they were the first computers to be able to draw things on the screen and be able to print them out. (This is one of those myths you're gonna have to wade through. Most people are ignorant, and they don't care to hear the truth.) The truth is now: Apple doesn't need Microsoft like they did five years ago, but Microsoft is still developing kick ass products for the Mac, products SO good, it has Windows people bitching that Microsoft doesn't do as good a job for Windows. That's because they DON'T because Windows isn't a good OS to begin with. It was a hack job then and it's a hack job now, and that's because the foundations of Windows hasn't been changed much. Windows 3.1 was based on DOS, Windows 95 was based on Wind! ows 3.1, Windows 98 was based on 95, Windows ME was based on 98..... which means Windows ME was based on an OS that's been around and whose foundations have been creaking since the late eighties! WindowsXP is Windows2000 with a new interface (conviniently called XP after Apple spent YEARS marketing MacOS - you guessed it- X! and Windows 2000 was a rewritten Windows NT which was Microsoft's first venture into the server platform in the early 90s!
MacOS X, however, is based on a 30 year old system called UNIX, but in this case this is REALLY GOOD! The reason is UNIX is OPEN SOURCE, which means it is freely available online. People have been hacking at it and playing with it since the 70s! What that means is because MILLIONS of people have worked on UNIX, all of the bugs, all of the security holes, all of the crap has been taken out and updated as time went on to make UNIX the most stable, secure platform out there. These wasn't ONE company work! ing on UNIX just to make money(like Microsoft does with Windows), there were thousands of people making UNIX better at any given time out of love for that OS, NOT for money, NOT for fame, but to say they helped make something great better. Apple took this foundation, they updated it to make it faster and better and more stable, and then they threw a brilliantly clever and simple to use GUI on it called Aqua. THAT is MacOS X. A UNIX core with the ease of use of Apple's design. (I'll show you the core of the OS some time, but all it really looks like is DOS.) I'm sure you've heard of the OS called Linux, well Linux is a derivative of UNIX and they've been trying to do with Linux for twelve years what Apple has done with MacOS X in two. Linux, if you haven't heard of it, is an offspring of UNIX (based on UNIX) and both UNIX and Linux are both used for high end, mission critical servers and computers. Hell, most of the web sites out there you visit are ! run on UNIX or Linux! This is important because these machines HAVE to be up 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
And THAT is the power of MacOS X: an extremely powerful UNIX core designed for master programmers and the absolute geek of geeks (whom get paid A LOT OF ****ING MONEY! lol) with the simplicity and beauty of an Apple interface.
It's been called a miracle of sorts by everyone who knows what they're
talking about.
Oh, by the way, the short short short answer is: no, Microsoft does not
own Apple. lol
And I'm spent."
I think that's pretty accurate, short version of Apple's history. I had to keep it simple because she's not computer literate at all. I know the Windows history was a bit brief, almost too brief, but it got the point across.
She writes back:
I fowarded it to that friend lol.....put him in his place lol. But this is what I got in reply...
"honey....no its a fact...I spent 4 years in bryant getting it shoved down my throught, the NY times did a big story on it in the early 90's, 93 I think, he doesn't own them, he owns a majority of the stock other than that he has nothing to do with them. Apple has almost gone down the shithole repeatadly since 1985, Bill Gates has personally bailed them out on several occations"
"lol.....the product and the business are two very different things, thats! why computer geeks and business people get in arguments computer geeks think its all cut and dry its far from that, its more complicated than you can imagine"
Now I'm irritated. And the thing is, I don't usually get irritated over ANYTHING, ever mind something this stupid, but I'm pissed so I send her:"I love how condescending he is, how he acts like he's better than everyone else because he's a 'business man.' Truly, it seems that the only business he's in is selling bullshit. He sounds more like a sales weasel than a business man, though. I've worked with enough people in sales to know sincerity from this line of shit he's trying to sell. "Honey, it's more complicated then you could understand." Nice. Tell Mr. Salesman to back his up with facts, because I know the history of the company I'm passionate about.
Tell your friend to check his facts on google.com and then get back to
me. I will take a non-reply as I'm right, which I am."
OK here is his reply...
"Honey, I love you but your boyfriend knows alot of useless history, but HE DOESN'T KNOW DICK ABOUT BUSINESS he is right microsoft doesn't own Apple, Bill Gates, bailed his failure of a FRIEND steve jobbs out, when things weren't so good, bill gates personally owns 57% of Apple stock tell Mike to pick up a ****ING WALL STREET JOURNAL AND SAVE THE ****ING HISTORY LESSON."
"he is right about one thing, windows is a piece of shit of an OS, Unix and LIUX are much better and much more stable"
"hun...mike got a typical computer education, he cant see farther than his monitor" "he should really learn to open up a newspaper and wake up, tha fact is PC's rule the world and they always will end of story" " honey I love you to death, and I dont mean any disrespect to your boyfriend""mike doesn't seem to get it that microsoft is not Bill Gates, Bill gates has personally invested billions into apple, most recently to quell antitrust problems, "
"85 was their most successful year, and their most profitable, thats because their output/sale ratio was nearly 100%, but it was 100% of very little production"
"its complicated, and if you get your facts from Apple, he'll never get it, its not even a bad thing, Steve Jobbs owns lots of stock in microsoft, the guys are best friends for christ sake"
Mr response:
"Back it up with facts and links. That's all. Enough of this wasting time. I got insulted, hence why I'm doing this. But tell Mr. Condescending to back it up with links. That's all. If it's in a newspaper, it's online. Even he should know that. Excuse me while I go ignore the world beyond my monitor.
Nice friends, by the way. Good to know that's who you like to keep company: people who talk out their ass who can't back their shit up yet talk down to you at the same time they're saying they love you."
Hmm... maybe I should not have taken it out on her, but still! I was pissed. I hate ignorant people. And I hate even more when good people hang out with ignorant people. (I'm a believer that you are who you hang out with, for the most part.)
Anyways, here's where you guys can help. I suppose the entire point here is that he's trying to tell me that Bill Gates PERSONALLY owns 57% of Apple's stock. ( <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> ) What I need is a way to find out how much the stock is divided and who owns what percentage. Is there a way to do this, some difinitive proof that this kid doesn't know what he's talking about?
Oh, by the way! I found out later from Sasha, my gf, that this dude is 21 years old, fresh out of college, and he IS a sales person. LOL Did I call it, or what? Man! Young people. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
Comments
It figures that it is a sales person that was saying this, though. I deal with them far too often and they have HUGE egos and have no problem making things up.
In this case, it seems he is trying to 'sell' her on a PC instead of a Mac.
The best way to keep her buying the Mac is to simply show her why it is better for her in ways she can understand. Don't get complicated or go to deep into it. You don't need to tell the history of Apple to get her to buy a Mac.
-Mike
You're right, that guy is ignorant.
MGossett: Microsoft hardly owns ANY Apple stock any more. While they DID buy 150 million dollars worth of stock, they sold MOST of it already, when Apple was doing really really well in the stock market. Every quarter they would sell off more and more stock; Microsoft PROFITED off of the 150 million investment because the stock was sold at more than they bought it for. (Again, why this 'investment' was more like Insider Trading more than anything.) I also believe this is one of the reasons Apple's stock price is so low right now, because there's a lot of shares out there that Microsoft once owned.
Regardless, his point is that BILL GATES himself owns 57% of Apple and he bought it in the early 90s. So, again, does anyone have any idea where I can get information on who owns a percentage of what? I think Steve Jobs is the person who owns the most shares of Apple, and even that totals less than 1%. Am I wrong?
Mr. Gambit, I am genuinely humbled and bow before your loquacity and verisimilitude.
Preach on, brother.
I forgot what I was going to say...
<strong>I never thought I'd see someone write a post any longer than mine.
Mr. Gambit, I am genuinely humbled and bow before your loquacity and verisimilitude.
Preach on, brother.
I forgot what I was going to say...</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> ROTFLOL <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
I appreciate the comments, really, but you guys aren't helping!
But basically... The guy if full of it
Do ask him for his sources, for I am not sure that he can argue his point with any certainty whatsoever.
[ 08-30-2002: Message edited by: Donny ]</p>
<a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/Holdings.asp?mode=&kind=&symbol=aapl&symbol=AAPL=&; FormType=&pathname=&page=holdingssummary&selected= AAPL" target="_blank">Apple insider summary</a>
Ignore the dick,
Chas
[ 08-30-2002: Message edited by: liquidh2o ]</p>
Does anybody know where I can get the total amount of Apple computers sold in 1985 and 1984 compared to today?
<strong>if i were you, I'd be more concerned about why that guy is calling your girlfriend "honey" and saying "I love you" to her. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
[ 08-30-2002: Message edited by: liquidh2o ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
lol I'll note that in my log, liquid, thanks.
Send this to that condescending sales weasel friend of yours. I think he'd like to know this, just for the record, though I hardly think he has the gal to read through this all, never mind respond.
Okay, I did a bit of research, not because I knew I was wrong, but because you're so blatantly wrong and still so stubborn, I HAD to discredit you in Sasha's eyes. (No offense intended, really, but you truly don't know what you're saying.) At first I followed your advice and picked up today's Wall Street Journal, since you said, "bill gates personally owns 57% of Apple stock tell Mike to pick up a ****ING WALL STREET JOURNAL AND SAVE THE ****ING HISTORY LESSON." And when I picked up today's edition, there was nothing there on anything Apple OR Microsoft related, so I checked the some internet sites which, UNLIKE the Wall Street Journal, is updated daily. (You should remember that so in your future arguments you don't look like TOO MUCH a dick.)
Okay, you're first 'fact' discredited: Bill Gates owns 57% of Apple. (Clarification: NOT Microsoft, but Bill Gates himself.)
Go to this web page. (You know how to use a web browser right? Good.)
<a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/Holdings.asp?mode=&kind=&symbol=aapl&symbol=AAPL=&; FormType=&pathname=&page=holdingssummary&selected= AAPL" target="_blank">http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/Holdings.asp?mode=&kind=&symbol=aapl&symbol=AAPL=&; FormType=&pathname=&page=holdingssummary&selected= AAPL</a>
That, my friend, is the Real Time Institutional Holdings/Insider Owners Stock Summary, which includes up to the date REAL TIME information on who owns what, INCLUDING, but not limited to, the top five stock holders AND the percentage of available stock. Let me break it down for you real simple here, just in case you can't read all those pretty graphs: Lord Abbett and Co. owns THE MOST APPL stock out of everyone else, and, according to this up to the date report, they - owning the MOST out of everyone else - only hold....... ready? ....... 12.1 percent of APPL stock, and they are the ones who own the MOST!!! At 12.1 percent!!!!!!!! If Billy G owned stock anywhere NEAR 57% (give or take THIRTY FIVE PERCENT POINTS) he would be listed under the Top Five APPL Stock owners, but he isn't because he DOESN'T.
As a matter of fact, a Google search shows that the ONLY investment Microsoft EVER made in APPL was the 150 million dollars, which I mentioned, in non-voting stock shares! A search for 'Bill Gates invests in Apple stock' yields NO search results, even at WSJ's site. Trust me, I don't know what you learned in college, but if Billy G. ever bought 57% of Apple stock EVER, someone would have noticed and wrote an article about it and Google would have found it.
Next.
"hun...mike got a typical computer education, he cant see farther than his monitor"
I'm not going to even attack the proper use of English (ie, the differences between further and farther) but I will attack the notion that I received a typical computer education. Guy, are you even LISTENING to what you're saying? I'm a Macintosh Technician, mate, that also know Windows and PCs......... in case that wasn't enough for you, I'll break it down FURTHER: THEY ONLY TEACH WINDOWS AND PC-RELATED TOPICS IF YOU'RE A COMPUTER MAJOR. SO, given that, I DIDN'T receive the typical education, ass, because anything related to Macs are just footnotes, hardly even stepping stones, in the education of computer science majors, hence why people like you are so misinformed even AFTER they've been educated. Yet, you WEREN'T a CS major, were you? No, you went to school for business, though you to profess to know EVERYTHING about MY own career choice, as if the History of Macintosh and Macs in the Early 90s were required classes on your expensive (and apparently over-rated) education. You should have saved your parents all of that money and just got a subscription to the Wall St Journal, since that's the only source you seem to cite. May I suggest the online version, because news is updated and stays more current? Here ya go, here's a link: <a href="https://interactive.wsj.com/offer/regUser.html"; target="_blank">https://interactive.wsj.com/offer/regUser.html</a>; If I were you, I'd get the $79 a year subscription, it's cheaper that way, in the long run. (Man I wish you spoke to me years ago. I could have saved your parents THOUSANDS of dollars just by telling them "He won't learn much at school, anyway. Buy him a PC and a subscription to the Wall St Journal.... you're better off. Trust me." Too bad These glaring facts are only found in hindsight.) ........... However, the more I think about it, the more I realize even THAT would have been too much! After all, while you cited WSJ as a source, none of your references are actually accurate, or even near the same ballpark of the truth! Your parents could have saved even MORE money if they had just given you a hug and some attention while you were growing up; that definitely would have made you more grounded and less subject to flights of fancy then ANY education or WSJ subscription!
So, there you have it. Your proof, your evidence, everything you need to find out how wrong you were. If you've made it this far, congratulations: you know how to read. Now let's test your writing and reading comprehension skills by doing the next exercise: write me a letter telling me how sorry you are for making an ass out of yourself and wasting my time, and promise me you'll research your fact before you start talking out of your ass. (You talk so much shit, you MUST have halitosis.) While you're at it, send an email to Sasha explaining to her that you're sorry you're such a pompous ass, but that's how most people who are afraid of the world and turn a blind eye to facts to suit their own reality are. Trust me, sending out these emails will be like therapy, free of charge. You'll thank me later.
mike
One: he's trying to sell her on a piece, not 'sell her a PC'. Don't take it personally, keep your sensahuma - don't let this Dick get to either of you!
Two: call up your friendly, neighborhood reference librarian. Ask her (*) how much Apple stock Bill Gates owns (and when he bought it).
Three: Relax - you're slicker than he is, and have smarter friends.
[miyagi]
Always remember to breathe - very important!
[/miyagi]
* - why are all librarians 'her'? Is it like ships or something?
[ 08-30-2002: Message edited by: Capt. Obvious ]</p>
As long as he imagines that he's competing with you, he'll keep his chest puffed out, and he won't stand down from his position.
I'll pass on a lesson I learned once in comp.lang.c: I once posted an answer to a question there that was wrong. One of the resident gurus politely pointed that out. So I posted a correction. That was wrong, too. The same guru politely pointed it out. Embarrassed, I posted another correction. That was wrong. The same guru politely pointed it out. Humiliated, I posted yet another correction. It was right. The same guru politely pointed that out. I emailed him thanking him for not flaming me to a crisp. He replied, politely, that he found embarrassment to be a far more effective corrective strategy than anger.
Also, my brother teaches troubled (as in severely ADHD and sociapathic) high-school kids, and he is always calm, never raises his voice, never challenges or insults the kids, no matter how much they get in his face and spew insults and threats. He's not only earned their respect and admiration this way, he's known as the strict teacher in the school.
It's a bit late now, but your emails clearly are hastily written, and long on posturing and trash talking. Especially considering your relationship to him, this is exactly the sort of thing that will trigger a macho response and turn the whole thing into a pissing contest, with your poor GF stuck in the middle.
If this poor schmuck keeps at it, I'd suggest not responding for a while until he's cooled off some, and then, if necessary, reply politely, tersely and factually: "According to [the big long URL you posted], a real-time index of who owns how much of Apple, the greatest share is owned by Lord Muckety-Muck, who owns 12 percent. Gates didn't make the list. Searching Google for 'Bill Gates Apple stock' turns up nothing." Don't let him get a rise out of you, and I bet he'll back down.
Filed away for future reference...
I am the person who, actually, own 57% of Apple. Period. Billy Gates can put his pants back.
LOL ! This thread is so funny, really guys, I can't stop laughing. ROFL ! It's hard to the stomach !
Geez ! Just go see your girlfriend, and show her how much you do love her. It's just that simple.
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* - why are all librarians 'her'? Is it like ships or something?
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Are they? I'm a librarian and am far from a "her."