It seems that we live in a windows world. From a computing standpoint, that is. The almost universal assumption is that if you own a PC, you are running windows. Not everyone, of course, but most folks. As I reflect on this state of affairs, the question I keep asking is, "Why?"
Windows really doesn't work all that well. How many times this week have you had to reboot your system? I know XP is supposed to limit that problem, but it certainly doesn't eliminate it. If you owned anything else that worked as well as Windows, you'd throw it out and buy something that actually worked. But we tolerate it in our operating systems. Why?
In addition to really not working well, it has to be continuously updated. Notice how often your computer is downloading windows updates? They have to keep fixing problems which should never have been there in the first place. Also, updates are constantly needed to fix the myriad security vulnerabilities in the stinking thing. Windows is a dream for those of us interested in writing malicious viruses, worms, etc. We fork out big bucks for virus protection and such because our operating system leaves open a bazillion back doors for malicious intruders.
Don't forget, every so often a new version of windows comes out, promising all the things we should have gotten in the previous version. Of course the new version is always much bigger and bloated and needs more speed and RAM and other hardware to run so that whatever machine you have already is incapable of running the new version. And what if you want to keep your current hardware and windows version? Windows stops supporting your version of the OS. All the software vendors flock to write stuff for the new OS and forget about yours. The hardware vendors stop supporting and writing drivers for your system, because they are also jumping on the bandwagon. The result is that even though you have a perfectly good system, all the vendors ignore it and through no fault of your own, it becomes obsolete before its time and you are almost forced to upgrade everything in order to keep working with everybody else. This is good for the vendors, of course.
Let's not forget the fact that Mr. Gates and his company are convicted criminals. They use monopolistic, unfair, and sometimes illegal practices in order to eliminate any competition (Check out the links at right under "M$" for examples). Do you knowingly do business with individuals or companies which are dishonest? I'll bet you don't. Except when it comes to your computer.
But yet, the world still chases after Micro$oft. Why?
Now, some of you are saying, "So what, there really are no alternatives." You are mistaken. That is another falsehood MicroSoft would have you believe. There are alternatives, and I'll be talking more about those later.
