Thread: What company to bash..?

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    267

    What company to bash..?

    For french class, we've been given an assignment where we have to write an argumentative text in the form of a letter to some company as a complaint. The problem is there aren't any companies that I have any complaints against. I originally searched for some that purposely inhibits Linux or some of its features but found none.
    Any1 know of a company I can bash for the purpose of this assignment?

    OS: Windows 7, XUbuntu 11.10, Arch Linux
    IDE: CodeBlocks
    Compiler: GCC

  2. #2
    Frequently Quite Prolix dwks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    8,057
    Since lots of people are going to suggest it, I thought I'd suggest it first: Microsoft.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft#Criticism
    dwk

    Seek and ye shall find. quaere et invenies.

    "Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it." -- Alan Perlis
    "Testing can only prove the presence of bugs, not their absence." -- Edsger Dijkstra
    "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." -- John Powell


    Other boards: DaniWeb, TPS
    Unofficial Wiki FAQ: cpwiki.sf.net

    My website: http://dwks.theprogrammingsite.com/
    Projects: codeform, xuni, atlantis, nort, etc.

  3. #3
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    8,895
    I originally searched for some that purposely inhibits Linux or some of its features but found none.
    No? Until very recently, ATI's Linux drivers were thought beyond all repair. (They were, actually. ATI completely rewrote them.) There is still a very nasty bug in video playback - let's just say that since my Radeon 9800 got fried, I can't play videos properly anymore, since the X1600 suffers from massive problems in the video overlay department.

    Other hardware vendors, too, release sub-standard drivers for Linux. Can't be too hard to find one.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  4. #4
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    Microsoft. What more do we need to say?
    Can't make consoles. OS market monopoly. Release awfully buggy software. Spies of on us without our consent (Vista, it's in the TOS so you must agree to it if you wish to use the OS). Illegal business practices, yada, yada, yada. And so on.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  5. #5
    Internet Superhero
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Denmark
    Posts
    964
    Quote Originally Posted by Elysia View Post
    Can't make consoles.
    I disagree, i think the Xbox is an awesome piece of kit!

    But back on topic, bash Apple for pushing out the turd that is Macbook Air, what a joke...
    How I need a drink, alcoholic in nature, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics.

  6. #6
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    Quote Originally Posted by Neo1 View Post
    I disagree, i think the Xbox is an awesome piece of kit!
    I mean hardware reliability. They took resources away from reability and testing to rush the console to market.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  7. #7
    and the hat of int overfl Salem's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    The edge of the known universe
    Posts
    39,656
    The pricing structures of some telco's leave a lot to be desired.
    If you dance barefoot on the broken glass of undefined behaviour, you've got to expect the occasional cut.
    If at first you don't succeed, try writing your phone number on the exam paper.

  8. #8
    Dr Dipshi++ mike_g's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    On me hyperplane
    Posts
    1,218
    How about Sony? Their software either litters your hardisk with hidden stuff it wont uninstall, or it litters your hardisk with hidden stuff it wont uninstall and installs a rootkit.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_So...ection_scandal

  9. #9
    Ecologist
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Utah.
    Posts
    1,291
    Quote Originally Posted by Neo1 View Post
    I disagree, i think the Xbox is an awesome piece of kit!

    ...
    It's a horribly engineered machine.

    Does it have to be a complaint against general business practices,
    or can you write a letter to the Taco Bell corporation for giving you
    food poisoning?
    Staying away from General.

  10. #10
    Internet Superhero
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Denmark
    Posts
    964
    Quote Originally Posted by ethic View Post
    It's a horribly engineered machine.
    Do you even own an Xbox? My own Xbox is quite alot more stabile than most of my friends' PS2s, never ever had any problems with it...

    I mean hardware reliability. They took resources away from reability and testing to rush the console to market.
    So do i... And no, the xbox wasn't rushed to the market? It came out 1½ year after its competitors? What do you mean?
    How I need a drink, alcoholic in nature, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics.

  11. #11
    Woof, woof! zacs7's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    3,459
    > My own Xbox is quite alot more stabile than most of my friends' PS2s
    Depends which version you have, the 'heat problem fixed' one -- or the original. I'd agree that the xbox is horrid, but it does look nice -- i'll give it that.

    > So do i... And no, the xbox wasn't rushed to the market? It came out 1½ year after its competitors? What do you mean?
    Still 1.5 years slower than Microsoft would have liked.

    I'd second Sony, used to be awesome Japanese quality, now it's cheap crap made in China. Not to mention their other conundrums.

  12. #12
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    Quote Originally Posted by Neo1 View Post
    Do you even own an Xbox? My own Xbox is quite alot more stabile than most of my friends' PS2s, never ever had any problems with it...

    So do i... And no, the xbox wasn't rushed to the market? It came out 1½ year after its competitors? What do you mean?
    Suppose it depends on which console you mean. I was originally aiming at the 360.
    The the Xbox itself was a big fat console that was poorly engineered too. It was just basically a computer in a box.
    I'll also agree on Sony. Crap quality with high prices. Killer of lik-sang, installer of rootkits.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  13. #13
    (?<!re)tired Mario F.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Ireland
    Posts
    8,446
    > The problem is there aren't any companies that I have any complaints against.

    Can't you pretend?
    Anyway, a good target for your assignment is your ISP. Lots of grounds for complaining there. Announced transfer speeds not being what they say, ADSL users phone charges not being exactly as announced, too much use of fine print in contrats, lack of some basic services like NNTP, et cetera
    Originally Posted by brewbuck:
    Reimplementing a large system in another language to get a 25% performance boost is nonsense. It would be cheaper to just get a computer which is 25% faster.

  14. #14
    C++まいる!Cをこわせ!
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Inside my computer
    Posts
    24,654
    Now that would depend on where you live. Lots of complaints against US broadband dealers like AT&T, but in other countries, the situation is a little better.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  15. #15
    Lurking whiteflags's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    9,613
    Google. They make money off of advertising on the internet and simply spammed that everywhere. Those suggested links when you search for something are also paid for so that Google will display them. There are people paying $50 for a click on a link! And it's just a tax on the consumer, because Google has to be paid somehow. So the company's will raise the price of their products to pay.

    To make matters worse, there are web sites run by people whose only job is to figure out how to mess with the text on pages to get them indexed in Google higher. It becomes a contest and not about content sometimes. Such waste for so little in our economy cannot be tolerated.

    They also sold out to China and their oppression of its citizens.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 3
    Last Post: 04-10-2009, 12:57 AM
  2. bash scripting?
    By Draco in forum Linux Programming
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 01-08-2007, 06:15 AM
  3. How to start a company?
    By Liger86 in forum Game Programming
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 11-25-2003, 01:38 AM
  4. Company Hopping
    By FillYourBrain in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 10-07-2002, 11:24 AM
  5. redirecting standard error in Bash
    By wozza in forum Linux Programming
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 07-16-2002, 04:55 AM