Hal,
> What price are we ultimately willing to pay for uniformity?
It seems that you don't realize that you could buy a generic box, then go to the neighborhood computer store and buy SCO Unix or IBM's OS/2. Of course, the applications are going to be more scarce and more expensive. But what the heck, you've resisted uniformity.
You see, Windows is a somewhat better than mediocre OS, which runs on a somewhat better than mediocre chip, but the de facto standard that MSFT created in Windows (browser, or not), established a fertile marketplace for developers to target their products, and also created a bargain basement for the consumers to shop in. If Gateway wants to sell only MSFT products (complaining, or not) and you want something else, don't buy from Gateway; somebody else will sell you what you want. Everybody's product has to stand on it's own merits - price, quality, usefulness.
If you really want some diversity, buy a DEC Alpha with OpenVMS. That will really set you free.
Isn't free enterprise wonderful. Now if the feds would only let us practice it.
John
PS. Has anybody ever heard of someone who actually paid for a browser - not counting those bundled with something else, such as a modem where a portion of the price could imply payment - where they were aware that they could have any browser ever created for free? Does the for-money version of anybody's browser offer anything special, other than installation hand-holding? |
