1. Should we have the right to choose another OS or word processor?
Nowadays Microsoft must be shocked for the rapid developing
Internet. It is a fact that Microsoft is not a creative company
although it occupies more than 90% PC software market. In its
history, all the successful products are not originated from
itself. DOS, Windows, Word, Excel and etc, many products which
makes much money for MS are invented at first by other companies.
DOS was designed at first by IBM. But, the huge company ignored
the potential market of PC. So IBM lost a historical chance and
MS was awarded the cherished opportunity. Graphical User
Interface, Macintosh, was invented at first by Apple. However,
Apple was not so successful in PC marketing. So its software was
failed too. MS noticed the outstanding system and imitated at
once. This is the famous Window 3.x. Windows 3.1 is the basement
of the giant building of Microsoft.
Until now, every ambitious software engineer is unsatisfied with
the slow, inefficient and ineffective OS. I know in Bell Labs
engineers name MS as a toy. It is well known that the famous
research institute invented UNIX, the most famous operating
system. Further, in the application software field, there was
WordPerfect before Word and Lotus 1-2-3 before Excel. The
notorious story between Internet Explorer and NetScape can still
be remembered. But, no one can deny MS is the most successful
software company in the world. And it is difficult to change the
situation that MS will be in the leading position of software for
a long time.
But, should we have the right to choose another OS or word
processor? Should we always browser the Internet via IE? When our
PC is downed without any reasonable reasons just because it runs
too long or an occasional wrong operation, should we restart our
PC helplessly for the one thousand times? The highest version of
Windows is 2000! Will there be 2002, 2005 and any other new ones
waiting for us? It is no use for me to update OS continually. I
can not find it will bring me some benefits except that I should
pay for it! Without updating new version of Windows, my PC will
become a useless box. However, I can use it conveniently only
half a year ago. We can make a choice when I do almost anything
except buying software. Why?