On the one hand, Microsoft is one of the greatest American success stories of our time. Bill Gates started building computers in his garage, and built it into one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world.
On the other hand, many people disagree with the marketing method that built Microsoft's empire. Consumers are baited into buying the fancy, user-friendly features, and then we are switched to buy more expensive products once a certain limitation is reached. Once you are hooked on their products, it's very hard to quit. It is often called "The Microsoft Addiction".
Microsoft has great products... but they contain intentionally engineered limitations which force us to upgrade to the next level. For example, the computer you buy off the shelf of a big retailer comes
with Windows 7 "starter" edition... which is pretty, and does what it
was advertised to do. But when it comes to more advanced networking,
you'll be stuck. You will be forced to buy an upgraded "pro" version of
the software to do it. There are other ways to work around the problems, but
it's not user-friendly. They didn't tell you that at best buy. They have designed it so that the easiest answer is break out your wallet...
The OS itself knows how to do everything the pro version would do, but Microsoft has
intentionally engineers limitations on the license and the structure of
the code. We, the
consumer, have to pay for the next upgrade, the next version, the next OS... and
once you upgrade the OS, you have to upgrade Office, too... and so on. Business licensing is even worse. Businesses are strong-armed into buying millions of dollars in licensing, and most of the workforce is only adept at using microsoft-flavored products (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.). It is a monopoly.
To sum it up: a computer is a tool, and it sucks to be forced to buy a whole new toolbox when all you have is a broken hammer.
However, there is a huge movement to Open-Source Software (OSS). Whenever possible, we try to use and recommend open-source software for 3 reasons:
- It's always Free, as in Freedom. It can and will constantly be developed, upgraded, and expanded upon. The code is open meaning anyone can look at and change it as needed, to fix things for example. Imagine your headlight burnt out, but you were not allowed to open the hood of your car to fix it yourself...
- It's usually Free as in free beer. The people that develop the software and make it available for free because it is useful in their own projects.
- Evolution is faster, and directly consumer-driven. Bugs and Fixes are often discovered faster, because the collaborative nature of the process.
Here is a list of some common things you use everyday that are open source:
- Java- It's in everything from your alarm clock to your refrigerator
- Android
- Facebook Developed in PHP
- The internet The vast majority of websites run on Linux
OSS is gaining marketshare. More coming soon...
