said by redxii:I guess i'm just pointing out this broad inconsistency with human behavior. Since NYT is such an honored source:
"Ballmer, according to the person briefed on the talks, has been pushing Yusuf Mehdi, the senior vice president in charge of MSN and Microsoft's search business, to be more aggressive to try to catch up with Google, with acquisitions as one possibility. Ballmer, this person said, gave approval to begin talks with Claria two weeks ago."
If it were just competition with no unethical behavior involved I'd be all for it. You seem to be missing the point - Claria is a known malware company known for drive by downloads on unsuspecting users, collecting detailed information on individual users, forcing intrusive ads of users all while using software that degrades or damages the users computer. Google has done none of these. The disappointment and anger in this thread comes from the fact that Microsoft is apparently negotiating a deal with the very company that has caused damage to their users. Not to mention the fact that MS is touting it's anti-spyware while doing negotiations with a spyware company and lowering it's detections in th process. There is the hypocrisy. The problem with the MS bashing crowd being so vocal is that when there is a genuine problem those that have spent a lot of time defending it can't see when real problems emerge.
