Well lets look at areas where Microsoft either never entered, or never established any dominance:
1. CRM software -- Way overpriced, takes a team to managed (or you need to outsource), and buggy as h*ll.
2. Databases -- Oracle and DB2 are the 800 lb gorillas in this space, and look at how much they charge and how little they've progressed in 20 years. MySQL is a decent copy cat, but there's been no innovation, despite Microsoft always playing catch up in this space.
3. Home automation -- Nuff' said.
4. Mathematics software -- While I use both Mathematica and Matlab, I'm shocked at how slow each of these has moved. And by the way, have you looked at their prices? Certainly not having Microsoft in this space has neither driven innovation nor reduced pricing.
There are plenty of areas of computing that Microsoft never entered nor dominated, but I'd be curious to hear stories of how these areas of computing have seen tremendous innovation and reduction in price due to Microsoft's absence.
Why don't you hear about these stories? Because it simply doesn't happen. Likewise, when there is a decent product and there's a market, it will shine. See Firefox and Google.
How has Microsoft set computing back? The fundamental problem with this argument is that there is NO evidence that there were other more advanced technologies that didn't advance because of Microsoft.
In fact if you look at computing outside of Microsoft you'll see it was generally overpriced. Either we'd end up with the expensive Apple model. The absurdly priced Unix model (if Sun had dominated we'd pay $10,000 for the hardware and $5,000 for the OS, with another $15,000 for the Office package).
And lets be perfectly honest, if you want to talk about who has really screwed over this country, no one talks about IBM and AT&T any more. Well I guess if you talked about those two companies, you'd have to condemn Linux as an evil that exists as a function of the hundreds of billions they've stolen from this world.
Back to your dream world of hating one company, while ignoring the crimes of your child.
There's only value in controlling the physical media is if you care about that. I don't care about control of most of my books, which is why I use a library. The same with most TV shows. Until I had a family I didn't care about control of where I lived, which is why I lived in an apartment.
It's only when I care about these things do I care. If a friend of mine makes an album, I'll buy the CD. Otherwise, I simply just don't have an interest in owning any more CDs (I'm in the process of selling mine now).
One thing I'd like to see a rental model on are digital cameras and cell phones. I care about owning the pictures, but really I have no interest in keeping a camera more than a year. Phones have largely turned into a rental model, but just charging full price for the phone.
That's exactly what I did. My iPod died (battery issues, which p*ssed me off, but that's another story), and Yahoo had started it's promotional music service. I got an IRiver and haven't looked back since.
Sure IRiver H10 doesn't look quite as nice as iPod, in terms of UI it's really close (iPod has a slight nod), and sound quality is a dead heat. The iPod is enjoying what I call the "Motorola Advantage", which is the same advantage Motorola held in cell phones earlier. Everyone had one, because Motorola was what everyone wanted. Other cell phones were nearly as good for a short period of time, but then slowly other phones started surpassing them (Nokia and Samsung mostly). People eventually bought different brands when their Motorola's died and Motorola hasn't been the same since.
Today iPod is marginally better than other MP3 players, but not a quantum leap better, and not good enough to trump a superior music service, and for many of us (not everyone, but many) a subscription service is what we need.
I wouldn't invest in Apple based on the iPod, that's for sure.
Vista playing catch up to the Linux kernel with respect to modularity and functionality? Are you kidding? Additionally, what is some innovation that we've seen in other kernels, if there is no innovation in the Vista kernel. I'm curious to know about this innovation that other OS people are doing.
I want several gig collections to make random playlists. I currently use Yahoo, but would consider switching to another service if it had a better UI. I want the ability to pick the songs I want and create new playlists every day. Personally I don't plan to ever buy a song again, if I can help it (unfortunately I can't get a credit for the several thousands I've spent on CDs and tapes over my life).
Buying music for.99 does make sense if you tend not to listen to a lot of music, but if you do listen to a lot of music, and different music, you'll quickly burn through a lot of cash.
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1. CRM software -- Way overpriced, takes a team to managed (or you need to outsource), and buggy as h*ll.
2. Databases -- Oracle and DB2 are the 800 lb gorillas in this space, and look at how much they charge and how little they've progressed in 20 years. MySQL is a decent copy cat, but there's been no innovation, despite Microsoft always playing catch up in this space.
3. Home automation -- Nuff' said.
4. Mathematics software -- While I use both Mathematica and Matlab, I'm shocked at how slow each of these has moved. And by the way, have you looked at their prices? Certainly not having Microsoft in this space has neither driven innovation nor reduced pricing.
There are plenty of areas of computing that Microsoft never entered nor dominated, but I'd be curious to hear stories of how these areas of computing have seen tremendous innovation and reduction in price due to Microsoft's absence.
Why don't you hear about these stories? Because it simply doesn't happen. Likewise, when there is a decent product and there's a market, it will shine. See Firefox and Google.
In fact if you look at computing outside of Microsoft you'll see it was generally overpriced. Either we'd end up with the expensive Apple model. The absurdly priced Unix model (if Sun had dominated we'd pay $10,000 for the hardware and $5,000 for the OS, with another $15,000 for the Office package).
And lets be perfectly honest, if you want to talk about who has really screwed over this country, no one talks about IBM and AT&T any more. Well I guess if you talked about those two companies, you'd have to condemn Linux as an evil that exists as a function of the hundreds of billions they've stolen from this world.
Back to your dream world of hating one company, while ignoring the crimes of your child.
It's only when I care about these things do I care. If a friend of mine makes an album, I'll buy the CD. Otherwise, I simply just don't have an interest in owning any more CDs (I'm in the process of selling mine now).
One thing I'd like to see a rental model on are digital cameras and cell phones. I care about owning the pictures, but really I have no interest in keeping a camera more than a year. Phones have largely turned into a rental model, but just charging full price for the phone.
Sure IRiver H10 doesn't look quite as nice as iPod, in terms of UI it's really close (iPod has a slight nod), and sound quality is a dead heat. The iPod is enjoying what I call the "Motorola Advantage", which is the same advantage Motorola held in cell phones earlier. Everyone had one, because Motorola was what everyone wanted. Other cell phones were nearly as good for a short period of time, but then slowly other phones started surpassing them (Nokia and Samsung mostly). People eventually bought different brands when their Motorola's died and Motorola hasn't been the same since.
Today iPod is marginally better than other MP3 players, but not a quantum leap better, and not good enough to trump a superior music service, and for many of us (not everyone, but many) a subscription service is what we need.
I wouldn't invest in Apple based on the iPod, that's for sure.
Vista playing catch up to the Linux kernel with respect to modularity and functionality? Are you kidding? Additionally, what is some innovation that we've seen in other kernels, if there is no innovation in the Vista kernel. I'm curious to know about this innovation that other OS people are doing.
I want several gig collections to make random playlists. I currently use Yahoo, but would consider switching to another service if it had a better UI. I want the ability to pick the songs I want and create new playlists every day. Personally I don't plan to ever buy a song again, if I can help it (unfortunately I can't get a credit for the several thousands I've spent on CDs and tapes over my life). Buying music for .99 does make sense if you tend not to listen to a lot of music, but if you do listen to a lot of music, and different music, you'll quickly burn through a lot of cash.