[Am-info] Fight the Monopoly | Computerworld News

[Gene Gaines]

Fred,

Text from the Computerworld article you just linked below
is worth quoting.

This by Patricia Keefe, editorial director at Computerworld.
You can contact her at patricia_keefe@computerworld.com.
A quick email complimenting her thinking would be good.


Computerworld
(October 29, 2001)

by PATRICIA KEEFE
Fight the Monopoly

... Microsoft, now the industry's top gun, remains obsessed with tying
everything back to Windows. It's now working to extend its iron grip on the
desktop to the enterprise and all the way out to the Internet - antitrust
conviction be damned.

Whether it's because of changes in certification programs; expensive, forced
upgrades; new licensing terms that let Microsoft shut off your operating system
during a dispute; or the required collection of customer data in order to turn
software on, users are seething about "bloatware" and Big Brother. Yet Microsoft
has made few concessions. Indeed, everywhere you look, the company is
snubbing users when it's not shaking them down.

It's no surprise that the past eight months of headlines is a blur of anger and
concern. A recent study conducted by Giga Information Group and Windows
integrator Sunbelt Software revealed that 36% of the 4,550 technology
professionals polled are so disturbed by new Microsoft's licensing plans that you
are considering switching to alternative products. But will you?

If you are really angry, fed up and unwilling to be held hostage, consider your
options: 1. Work to dilute Microsoft's presence and control in your company. 2.
If you can, don't just threaten to toss Microsoft out of your operations, do it. 3.
Finally, help start a vocal and effective user group for Microsoft users. All the
big enterprise vendors, from IBM to Hewlett-Packard to Oracle, have had one.
Where is the united user voice representing Microsoft customers?

It's going to take exactly this sort of extreme pressure to rein Microsoft in - you
certainly won't be able to count on the feds to do it for you. And it will take
more than complaining. It requires action by the enterprise users that Microsoft
should take seriously. If that doesn't get Redmond's attention, nothing will.





On Wednesday, November 07, 2001, 1:07:04 PM, Fred wrote:

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> http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO65065,00.html



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