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Microsoft offers cash back search
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Comments (25)
5 earlier comments in the full thread.
NoDough, agreed.
Well now, I'm not so sure the McDonald's comparison works. Because McDonald's sells inexpensive, not-bad food. You don't pay a premium for junk like you do with MS software. If you leave off the the fake cheese and fatty sauces, you can even eat reasonably healthy. I think Microsoft's business practices are more like the classic evil robber baron companies, like the oil companies such as Royal Dutch that invaded other countries, enslaved local labor, and took all the wealth out of these countries. Or DeBeers, which does the same thing with diamonds.
Microsoft's products are like '50s American cars- huge, bloated, inefficient behemoths that could barely get out of their own way. But they sure were shiny.
Microsoft's products are like '50s American cars- huge, bloated, inefficient behemoths that could barely get out of their own way. But they sure were shiny.
Worse than 50's cars.
Chryslers from the mid 70's.
When they used to pay the management bonuses based on the number of cars produced. It didn't matter if the cars fell apart after a week of driving. They were huge, poorly built dinosaurs that got worse mileage than the 50's cars at a time when gas prices were going from 30 cents a gallon to 90 cents a gallon.
At least the 50's cars were well built and had a sense of style.
Reminds me of that ad Microsoft was running last year that showed MS Office users as dinosaurs.
Chryslers from the mid 70's.
When they used to pay the management bonuses based on the number of cars produced. It didn't matter if the cars fell apart after a week of driving. They were huge, poorly built dinosaurs that got worse mileage than the 50's cars at a time when gas prices were going from 30 cents a gallon to 90 cents a gallon.
At least the 50's cars were well built and had a sense of style.
Reminds me of that ad Microsoft was running last year that showed MS Office users as dinosaurs.
Quoting:Well now, I'm not so sure the McDonald's comparison works. Because McDonald's sells inexpensive, not-bad food.
Not-bad food?! Ye gods, you're not used to much, are you? I'd rather not eat at all than eat at McDonalds. I'm surprised they haven't gone out of business years ago, though little kids nagging parents about happymeal toys may have something to do with that.
Oh, the food is quite addictive. I'll have an occasional McMuffin for breakfast, and I love the coffee and the custard cones...but I used to be so addicted to the burgers, etc, it wasn't even funny. It's amazing how it can get its hooks into you. I pretty much leave that stuff alone now.
TC, rijelkentaurus, where do you keep your tate buds? Macca's are Crap, I have never tasted anything so vile, once was enough, if I never taste another mouthful of what Macca's serve up it will be way too soon.
Ok you mean McDonald's bashers, then tell me this: which would you rather eat, a nice McDonald's burger, or a gourmet meal prepared and served by the sweaty hands of Steve "Missing Link" Ballmer?
Microsoft's discount plan for customers, and charging advertisers only when a sale is made, actually makes a lot of sense. Web advertising has been 99% wasted because it's just noise and obnoxiousness with no incentives. In the old-fashioned print ad world you get coupons and sales. How nice that these smart high-tech persons are finally catching up to 18th-century marketing concepts.
Microsoft's discount plan for customers, and charging advertisers only when a sale is made, actually makes a lot of sense. Web advertising has been 99% wasted because it's just noise and obnoxiousness with no incentives. In the old-fashioned print ad world you get coupons and sales. How nice that these smart high-tech persons are finally catching up to 18th-century marketing concepts.
>> Ok you mean McDonald's bashers, then tell me this: which
>> would you rather eat, a nice McDonald's burger, or a gourmet
>> meal prepared and served by the sweaty hands of Steve
>> "Missing Link" Ballmer?
Depends. Is Steve going to pull out my chair for me?
Depends. Is Steve going to pull out my chair for me?
Quoting: Depends. Is Steve going to pull out my chair for me?
Pull it out from under you, perhaps.
Quoting:Ok you mean McDonald's bashers, then tell me this: which would you rather eat, a nice McDonald's burger, or a gourmet meal prepared and served by the sweaty hands of Steve "Missing Link" Ballmer?
I'll take dinner with Steve Ballmer. There's nothing "nice" about a McDonald's burger. They taste like rubber. When I eat a burger I make it myself.
And I'm the opposite. I'd prefer a rubbery, half-cooked, flavorless Linux-burger to the tastiest (but still encumbered) eye-candy Ballmer could put on my plate.
Quoting:eye-candy (...) on my plate
Ewwwwww...
> TC, rijelkentaurus, where do you keep your tate buds? Macca's are Crap,
Contrary to popular opinion and McDonald's propaganda, the quality of McDonald's food seems to vary widely depending on the restaurant.
When I was in college (1976-1980), the local McDonald's was actually fairly good. When I graduated and left the area, I was shocked at how bad the McDonald's were in the new location.
That said, McDonald's quality appears to have been steadily declining over the past 20 years, with no end in sight. Some of that perception is undoubtedly due to my getting older, but not all of it.
Contrary to popular opinion and McDonald's propaganda, the quality of McDonald's food seems to vary widely depending on the restaurant.
When I was in college (1976-1980), the local McDonald's was actually fairly good. When I graduated and left the area, I was shocked at how bad the McDonald's were in the new location.
That said, McDonald's quality appears to have been steadily declining over the past 20 years, with no end in sight. Some of that perception is undoubtedly due to my getting older, but not all of it.
At least the Big Mac doesn't come with an EULA or Mac Genuine Burger Advantage Program. Also, the look of the restaurants has changed where I live the past few years: Everything used to be as unpleasant as possible, especially all the red stuff, in a MacDonalds restaurant. Just to make sure you leaved as quick as lightning after finishing your meal. Nowadays, some of them are quite nice decorated with wooden walls, nice tiles and everything, and one of them features some kind of 'ship' in the interior I remember. A pleasant place to read the paper in case of a tailback in my opinion.
I was quite upset in 1999 when the (last) Quick (in the Netherlands) on the opposite side of the street as the MacDonalds went bankrupt, because it had the better food and we were always alone at the upper floor - though there was room for 100 people. Also, it didn't smell like at the MacDonalds. Nonetheless, all people went to the MacDonalds on the opposite side of the road to wait in the long rows over there for inferior food. I couldn't understand, at the Quick you didn't have to wait at all! After that, the MacDonalds was the only place to buy some fastfood in the center of the town, and I got used to it. Lately it was on Dutch tele why the Mac burgers were as popular as they are: Because the meet doesn't have taste at all, nobody dislikes it. The taste comes from the sauce. I think that's correct. Also, their fastfood looks less fat than what the 'old fashioned' snackbars in my country use to sell.
I was quite upset in 1999 when the (last) Quick (in the Netherlands) on the opposite side of the street as the MacDonalds went bankrupt, because it had the better food and we were always alone at the upper floor - though there was room for 100 people. Also, it didn't smell like at the MacDonalds. Nonetheless, all people went to the MacDonalds on the opposite side of the road to wait in the long rows over there for inferior food. I couldn't understand, at the Quick you didn't have to wait at all! After that, the MacDonalds was the only place to buy some fastfood in the center of the town, and I got used to it. Lately it was on Dutch tele why the Mac burgers were as popular as they are: Because the meet doesn't have taste at all, nobody dislikes it. The taste comes from the sauce. I think that's correct. Also, their fastfood looks less fat than what the 'old fashioned' snackbars in my country use to sell.
> Oh, the food is quite addictive.
Due, substantially, to monosodium glutamate.
> That said, McDonald's quality appears to have been steadily declining over the past 20 years, with no end in sight. Some of that perception is undoubtedly due to my getting older, but not all of it.
It's not just you. Ray Crock had one excellent attribute: he was a bastard for quality. Franchise owners lived in constant fear of corporate inspectors, who would drop in randomly with a stopwatch and an order for one of everything on the menu. They would then check everything, one at a time to verify that the store was up to standards.
Now they rely on _complaints_.
Personally, for "fast food", I miss the ramen noodle shops/stands in Tokyo. Nothing in America even comes close.
Due, substantially, to monosodium glutamate.
> That said, McDonald's quality appears to have been steadily declining over the past 20 years, with no end in sight. Some of that perception is undoubtedly due to my getting older, but not all of it.
It's not just you. Ray Crock had one excellent attribute: he was a bastard for quality. Franchise owners lived in constant fear of corporate inspectors, who would drop in randomly with a stopwatch and an order for one of everything on the menu. They would then check everything, one at a time to verify that the store was up to standards.
Now they rely on _complaints_.
Personally, for "fast food", I miss the ramen noodle shops/stands in Tokyo. Nothing in America even comes close.
Seattle is an awesome place for all kinds of good cheap fast food. Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Ethiopian, Middle East, Japanese, etc....there are still a lot of little mom-n-pop shops where five dollars gets you a big serving of something yummy and not unhealthy, and you can stretch it to two meals.
TC sounds wonderful. That's what I miss about having moved here from Sydney, all the little asian places, and China Town.
TC, that reminds me of San Jose and the Bay Area. Our office's favorite dine-out place was a little Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall, obviously furnished on the cheap, with some of the tastiest soups and main courses I've ever enjoyed. Affordable, too.
It was also excellent practice for using chopsticks. My mad 5k1ll2 impressed my bosses greatly.
It was also excellent practice for using chopsticks. My mad 5k1ll2 impressed my bosses greatly.
OMG, mad chopsticks skills. I bow to your superiorness. And when you're finished eating, you can use them to arrange your hair in a fashionable samurai bun.
Not any more. Where I live, the summer humidity makes ponytails a bad idea.
Waitaminnit...
TC just bowed to me?
*wibble*
Waitaminnit...
TC just bowed to me?
*wibble*
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