Thursday, August 04, 2005

Misc: A Monopoly In Spite of Itself


I'm a Mac guy. Always have been. Will be as long as they build 'em. But every once in a while I am forced to cross over to the dark side and use, or even purchase (gasp), a Microsoft product. Now is one of those times. My new G5 came with various trial programs that have since expired, and I am now faced with the prospect of purchasing Microsoft Office. Fortunately I work at a College so I get discounts on this stuff. So I go down to the Bookstore, and I find Microsoft Office 2003. Two thousand freaking three??!!. What fucking genius at Microsoft came up with the idea of naming products after dates? And is that person now cleaning toilets in Redmond? It is now almost 2006, and the new software I need is clearly marked "I'm three fucking years old (an eternity in computers), and practically obsolete! Buy me at your own peril!"

I remember back when everyone was worried about Y2K, Microsoft had big plans for a futuristic-sounding ?Windows 2000! Well, true to form, people were still being forced to buy Windows 98 well into the year 2000.

Their products are widely despised, bloated, buggy, vulnerable and out of date. And on top of that, they are badly named and marketed. How exactly is it that Microsoft owns the hemispere and Apple is the niche player? I'm not complaining (really!), I'm just wondering.

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