Lotus and word perfect made the apple personal computer the envy of microslop... windows was the result...
The APPLICATIONS were what sold the computer... not the performance specs per se.
The open sourcers will eventually take massive market share away from ms... barring government intervention... or perhaps Willie G will assert HE invented the concept of word processing... and page layout, or accounting with a spreadsheet... et al.
If the freebie unix clones survive the attacks by the Justice Department in their support of the microslop hegemony... there will be no microslop as we know it five years from now.
If the power is ultimately given to the people, will that power corrupt them absolutely??? Look for government to license and register all computers, like cars and guns over the next few years... "WE just have to register these dangerous computer platforms on an individual basis... how else can we protect the people from terrorists1!?!"
I say give em the power anyhow.
And the Mac is the Betamax of computers. What is their market penetration?...1%? 3%?
Apple now fully qualifies as a cult. It isn't even significant enough to be termed a "sector."
People vote with their dollars, which is why Mr. Gates has 70 billions of dollars and you have none.
--Boris
Ain't gonna happen and the open sourcers themselves are the reason why. Much of the OS community views it as a private club for the geeky ultra-smart only and they have zero interest in making it a serious DESKTOP alternative to MS. Linux will continue to be a great server platform and a toy for hardcore geeks. Nothing more. Microsoft won the operating system wars and they're as over as the battle between VHS and Betamax.
MM