Yeah, it's an unfortunate mess. The U.S. Justice Department is lead by misguided, self serving zealots.
There is one simple reason why Microsoft has evolved in the way it has, and that reason is this: Simplicity for consumers.
Remember the days back in the mid 80's when you had Windows 3.0 and MS-DOS on your home computer, PC-DOS on your primary computer at work, MS-DOS on a second computer at work, and perhaps the Macintosh OS or UNIX OS on a third computer at work? It was a nightmare. It took a lot of effort for many people to master mulitple systems. The command that made text become bold in Wordperfect, did something entirely different in Peach Text. File sharing was (and still is) very difficult. These were challenging problems. The eventual emergence of a dominant OS like Windows 95 coupled with a complimentary set of productivity tools like MS Office was born out of necessity NOT illegal practices by Microsoft that are alleged to have caused consumers grave harm.
Is Microsoft a Saint when it comes to its business practices? I doubt it, but even if they are it is immaterial to me. No one has EVER placed a gun to my head and told me, "you MUST use Microsoft's products," nor have I been prevented from installing Linux or Netscape on my PC. I choose to use their products of my own free will because it's the easiest solution for me. I don't want to take the time necessary to learn and master multiple operating systems and multiple application suites. It's wasted time in my view. If someone invents a better wheel that warrants me changing my operating system and changing the application suite I have chosen, then I will, but it had damn well better be a much better product.
This case is about the government lashing out at one person, Bill Gates, because he amassed a few dollars and gained a little power. I'm ashamed of our elected leaders and of the Justice department. If they (Justice Department) aren't murdering people in Texas and Idaho, or kidnapping children in Florida, they are undermining the finacial stability of the U.S. economy, including everyone reading this.
What is the lesson in all of this? Maybe someone smarter than me can show me what is to be learned here.
Intelligent comments are appreciated.
John
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