Re: Who is the heck Eolas?

[Christopher Pall <christopher.pall@wmich.edu>]

Dan Strychalski wrote:
> 
> Christopher Pall <christopher.pall@wmich.edu> wrote --
> 
> > 2) Computers never de-innovate.
> 
> Taking "computers" to mean "digital products, including software," I'd
> say "de-innovate" is an excellent word for what I felt computers were
> doing as soon as I started exploring the offerings for MS/PC DOS in the
> mid-eighties.
> 
> Some call it de-commoditization. I prefer Chris's word.
> 
> (I've only tried to give a concrete example of a choice that has been
> taken from us -- a choice that Bill Gates fears mightily -- and folks
> who say they advocate choice have come out swinging. I'll never
> understand it. Is it because people don't differentiate between formal
> standards and "standards" that arise through mere copying?)

You know, I somewhat agree. The Commodore & Apple was/is great technology. We
took a leap back when it died horribly. Did the market decide? Hard to say. But
I know one thing for sure, it is a case where computer did indeed de-innovate.
I suppose that the computer industry is filled with such examples of companies
going out of business when they had the clearly superior product, however,
that's a little different than this. This is a standard practice ad-hoc.

One more thing to note. Embedded documents are no newer than excel spreadsheets
in Word documents. The only thing that this patent seems to have new in it is
the word "Hyper" 

> 
> >                                 Technolgy once out of the bottle, is
> > excessively difficult to get back into the bottle.
> 
> With control of the operating system, anything is possible.
> 
> Define "operating system," define it narrowly, and make it the law. Make
> operating systems completely open and completely free in every sense.
> Except in the area of file formats, let developers do what they please
> in the realm of applications. I don't mind paying for an app I like. I
> will *pay through the nose* for an app I like. I *feel better* paying
> for it, and I suspect many or most consumers feel the same way.
> 

No, don't define the Operating System. Define the law, ensure it's fair, and
enforce it appropriately.