[Am-info] query about MS "Innovations"

[madodel@ptdprolog.net]

In <0204020236101F.04038@punzel>, on 04/02/02 at 02:36 AM,
   felmon davis <davisf@union.edu> said:

>Tying some of the thread together, I can say something like the 
>following to my colleague:

>The idea of bundling apps into a suite isn't original with MS (as  others
>downthread have pointed out) though it was a tremendously  powerful bit
>of marketing strategy - it gave MS a significant  competitive advantage.
>It wasn't a technical innovation for MS since  many of the plumbing ideas
>came from IBM's OpenDoc. 

>Moreover, MS's technical implementation has the disadvantage of  weighing
>down system resources with 'manatees'.  

>And while the consumer gains something: a bundle of apps for much  less
>than it would cost to buy them separately, the consumer is also  saddled
>with some inferior apps. Further, the loss of competition  also
>diminishes the consumer's options. 

>MS innovated neither the technology nor the idea of an office suite.  It
>did, however, alter the game much to its advantage.

Here's an interesting re-post of an article by John Dvorak, from 1993,
from the long defunct OS/2 Professional magazine - "A Gateless World"
http://pages.prodigy.net/michaln/os2/dvorak_os2pro_1993.html  

Pretty much sums up what the world would be like without m$.

Mark


-- 

 From the OS/2 Desktop of: Mark Dodel

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  "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself.   That in it's essence, is Fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group or by any controlling private power." Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Message proposing the Monopoly Investigation, 1938