>>> Keith, how could you have no choice in OS if their is competition? I repetitively
named several OSs I could go out and buy right now. Just for the record: Linux,
Mac OS 7/8, BEos, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, etc. If I can name more than one OS,
then there is a choice, right?
Well, I would argue that there *used* to be lots of competition, but once again, I will tell you that OSes usually compete not on their own merits but on what software is available for them. Since MSFT has sewed up the desktop market, fewer and fewer applications are even available on the other OSes that you mention. So if I need to run specific applications that are only available for MSFT OSes, I do not have a choice. Or if I have any choice, it comes down to my analogy of the "choice" that I make of deciding to pay my taxes. As for your argument that MSFT outmaneuvered the competition, good for them. They have been paid handsomely for it, and deservedly so. But this very success has put them in a monopoly position, and thus they have an extra responsibility to be careful in how they leverage this position, and it is clear that they have improperly done so quite often. |
