Sal -
So what you're saying is that Windows95 (with the GUI, utilities, etc.) is--and has always been--much much more than just an OS, right?
Yup. The CD shipped is much more than an OS. Note, however, that the extra things are *not* part of the OS just by virtue of being on the CD. My major beef is with MSFT's outright lying by saying that IE is part of the OS, not that they ship stuff besides the OS on the same CD.
Fine, but where was the DOJ when quieter companies (like Symantec, for example) got crushed because Microsoft assimilated yet another technology into Windows??? And what happens if Netscape wins...does it set a precedent for Symantec and countless other companies to sue Microsoft for integrating technologies which they would have liked to sell?
s/if/when/ ;) (do you know vi, sed, or perl?)
You've just succinctly made my argument as to why MSFT needs to have it's OS business separated from it's applications business.
So then will "Windows2001" be an OS, in that it's a barebones OS that the consumer has to buy--and then they have to spend extra buying all the "applications" that used to ship with Windows95?
Sal, regular companies trying to make a buck by shipping product actually charge for their products. To give a major application away for free in an attempt to bankrupt another company is called dumping. I do, however, agree that things like disk compression and defragmentation (only needed for stupid filesystem designs ;)), belong in the OS, as they support a key and needed OS functionality.
-justinb |
