#15 No offense, but if I understood your post I know you don't know much about programming. One of the issues I have with the Microsoft case is that people that don't know code are judging a matter that is based on code. I don't have much knowledge of financial accounting, so I'm not all too qualified to go to the SEC and tell them how they should change their policies and public filings procedures. In like manner, those who don't know code aren't too qualified to tell software companies how they should make their software.
Regarding "standard applications for standard functionalities" - having an app for Audio/Video, another for HTML, another to browser the file system. If Apple's Quicktime were my default AV player responsible for playing all AV files, then there are types of AV I wouldn't be able to listen to. Just as with Windows Media Player I can't do Real or QuickTime formats. Web pages made for Netscape don't look the same in IE (usually) and vice versa.
People already have choice. If I want to listen to or watch QuickTime encoded files, I will buy QuickTime, if I don't, I won't. This is choice. If I want to experience Windows Media Format via Windows Media Player, I'll use it, othewise I'll choose another. For intance I don't like notepad or wordpad that come with windows, so I use EditPad. I have a choice already!
#18 Do you really think he is just trying to pick a fight? I currently have three four web browsers installed on my laptop. I choose which to use when I want to view webpages. I have up to three media players installed too - Windows Media Player, Real, and QuickTime. For the formats they have in common - wav, avi, etc. - I choose which one I want to use. I know folks that use WindowBlinds because they don't like Microsoft's UI. Again, that is choice that the consumer has.
Oh, and this is choice on the Windows platform. Yep, you guessed it, there are other operating systems out there that you can use too.
"What people do with that choice is beyond my caring. " I don't think you really believe that. Twenty years ago, there wasn't much of a software company over at Microsoft. It was people buying their products and not the competing products that created the Microsoft of today. That is choice of the consumer. You disagree with the choices that consumers made in allowing Microsoft to have the position it has in the market today, and you want to change that. In other words, choice were made and you care very much because you disagree with them. Microsoft never forced me to buy a PC with Windows, I chose it over a Mac or a PC with O/S2 (I'm talking about back in the day before Microsoft was big.).
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