#7 Thank you for responding with an argument to my post and not a flame. You make some good points, but I'm not sure that I agree.
"That's exactly the problem man. Those companies you mentioned designed those products before MS copycatted. By your own admission you would not look for alternatives to those products that MS includes in Windows because it is "easier". So I guess MS now has the power to decide which software companies it will allow to remain in business, even though MS was not the innovator.
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In my opinion copying is what the industry does to stay alive. 18 months ago who had heard of web services, now IBM and Microsoft and Sun all have offerings (or promises of offerings). Certaiinly one of them was first to have the great idea. As products that MS copycatted, I think that the reason a product gets market share is because people choose it. IE is a superior web browers IMO, and that is the reason it is dominating in the market. Real/Winamp vs MediaPlayer. I think that Microsoft is still lagging in this regard, because MediaPlayer has a huge memory footprint among other things. Real has also done things to damage its reputation (invading user privacy for one). IM clients. AOL/AIM still dominates in this market, though Yahoo! and MSN/Windows Messenger are gaining. Generally, I don't think Microsoft has the power to dictate who will stay in business. If they don't create a superior product, people will still chose to use the competing product (e.g. Microsoft PhotoDraw vs. Adobe PhotoShop - no contest).
"What else is there on the desktop? (Linux is corporate level OS, so don't go there) " It isn't a question of what is on the desktop, my point is what was on the desktop. Windows did have a 1.0 way back when and during that time they competed with IBM. Apple was also a very serious competitor to Microsoft. As far as the present goes and Linux being a viable alternative, well, I have used Linux from Red Hat and Mandrake and Solaris and I prefer to use Windows. I know many people who don't prefer Windows and who refuse to use it. For typical home users, though, on an Intel platform there really isn't much alternative to Windows.
I'm an MSCD working for a Microsoft Certified Partner. If you want to say that taints my objectivity, that's fine. Personally though, until three years ago, I hated Microsoft. It was my goal in life to drive the company into the ground. Over time, however, I used their products and used the competing products and decided on my own that Microsoft's were better. Before I decided on IE, I used 5 other browers including obsure ones like HotJava and NeoPlanet.
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