Or because computers are basically Windows or Apple, and damned few people are going to throw out their Windows computers and start buying Apple computers because Microsoft won't stop giving money to Josh Hawley, et al.6. Why does a top @Microsoft executive feel comfortable saying this kind of stuff out loud? Because corporations have been able to get away with it for so long
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 23, 2021
But things are changing
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Okay, I'll back up a scooch:
In the old days if you didn't like Henry Ford you could buy a GM product or a Chrysler; or even go over to American Motors. Despite the uproar in the '70's because people bought the marketing that a Buick engine was not a Chevy engine was not an Oldsmobile engine (my father was quite irate to find out GM was putting the same engine in so many branded vehicles. I figured "Aren't they all GM engines?"), cars were (are, as Paul Simon sang) cars. Hotels, for example (hello, Loew's!) are hotels, too. But computers are hardware; except without software, they're expensive doorstops. Cars just need gas, which you can get from any vendor. Even search engines and social media platforms are interchangeable.2. In a transcript of the meeting leaked to CNBC, Smith said that @Microsoft needs to make contributions to politicians because sending these politicians money allows him to "pick up the phone" and get "help" https://t.co/wejwhsPVUW
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 23, 2021
But not the computers that access them. I suppose we could "break up" Microsoft. But what good would that do the consumer (the touchstone, as I understand it, of anti-trust law)?
O brave new world that has such creatures in it!
I have never regretted dumping windows for Linux even if there were a couple of pieces of software I couldn't run using the Wine application under Linux. Linux Mint Mate is remarkably easy to use, has few glitches, allows YOU to decide when to download and install updates and is 100% free. And there are litrally hundreds of other Linux distros if Mint isn't your thing. I do all of my online ordering, banking, etc. using Puppy Linux as a live distro booted from a CD that can't be written to, totally bypassing the hard drive. Totally malware proof. It's a lot easier than the first DOS program that I used booted from a floppy.
ReplyDeleteI don’t like Microsoft products, but I know the vast majority of us are not going to seek out Linux and figure out how to replace our OS (if we know what “OS” means). Microsoft is effectively a monopoly, but how does the law change that?
ReplyDeleteAnd honestly, boycotting Microsoft (outside individual choices) is like boycotting cars. You can do it, or I can. But it won’t hurt car makers one jot.