Moley's Musings
I'm concerned with aspects of freedom, choice, respect, courtesy and consideration. This is obvious from my contributions. I also believe in the value of common sense.
Wednesday 22 April 2009, 10:31 PM
Microsoft's monopolistic behaviour
http://www.ecis.eu/documents/Finalversion_Consumerchoicepaper.pdf
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20090421111327711
In a nutshell, it is the playground bully taken to extremes that most ordinary people would just not begin to understand. Reminiscent of Jonas Cord in the novel 'The Carpet Baggers'.
Like most people, I cherish my freedom and the freedom to make my own choices. I strongly resent those being taken away from me, in whatever manner, having been brought up in the aftermath of the Second World War. I also mourn the loss of integrity that pervades our way of life now, as a norm.
PreviousComments on this post
Moley, seconded!
For the long-term health of our industry, we need to shift the market away from where one monopolist or another can grab the industry by the throat, and shake it around like a rag doll.
The only way to do this is to remove/neuter the mechanisms which can be used to establish monopolies in the first place. And the best way to do this, is to use free and open source software and open standards in combination.
I couldn't agree with you more, Moley. The question is, where do we draw the line in dealing with the monopolists? If we do it on principle, then we shouldn't have anything else to do with them, period. If we do it on practical considerations, then there are some situations, some applications, for which we simply have no alternative but to use what they offer. I have personally tried to stay as close to the principles as possible, for example by forswearing MS Office, unconditionally and permanently, both for my own computers and for any and all others for which I "help", including my partner's, relatives, friends and neighbors. Any time I am in a position to do so, I automatically install OpenOffice, and if possible I remove MS Office. I then take a very small amount of time to convince the user of that computer that OOo is indeed every bit as capable as MS Office, more so in many cases, and it can be compatible with MS Office when need be. I have never had a single person come back and ask me to re-install MS Office.
I would like to do the same with Linux vs. Windows, but the boundaries and parameters are somewhat different. At a minimum, what I try to do is change from a purely Windows system to a dual-boot Linux/Windows, and then try to gently nudge them into using Linux more and more.
Thanks for the links, Moley, they will be very useful additions to what I already have from the infamous "Vista Ready / Vista Capable" fiasco. It is a real eye-opener to a lot of people, when I show them that what the customer wants or needs, and what will or will not actually work, are pretty much the last things that get considered by Microsoft.
jw 23/4/2009
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