Too much Microsoft on the computer! What to do?

With so many programs made by Microsoft, is innovation suffering? Seems to me that Microsoft culture has made the computer something that is increasingly difficult to improve due to economies of scale. Does Microsoft control too much about the computer? How can this change?





Please do not tell me to buy an Apple - I do not see that as a meaningful step toward breaking the control Microsoft has.

Too much Microsoft on the computer! What to do?
There are alternatives to all Microsoft programs that run on the PC. Some examples:





Windows = Linux


Internet Explorer = Firefox, Netscape, Opera


Microsoft Office = Corel WordPerfect Office, OpenOffice


IIS = Apache


SQL Server = Oracle


Visual Studio = Borland, Ruby on Rails, Java





The choices are out there, but many times, Microsoft is the best solution.
Reply:Microsoft I think is the best company in software terms. Maybe it will be compatible with its MP3 technology terms, but oh well. Report It

Reply:Windows is the only Microsoft product I use. What programs are you looking to replace?
Reply:other than the operating system ... there are plenty of non-microsoft programs out there for windows.
Reply:Unfortunately we use a lot of MS prods because its a need not a want. Their products is so widely spread in the general market like businesses that we really can't do anything about it. Even if you start a company that uses OpenOffice or LotusWorks, most likely your partners or business associates will be on Windows and other MS products. Either you move over or lose their buiness. (you can still use those apps and convert to a doc file, but its just a timekiller for your business)





Windows is doing well because it was able to saturate the market so fast with their products.





So yes, MS has too much control on the PC in terms of software you will use.


In terms of change, a great business/personal application has to be developed that everyone will buy into that will have difficulty working with common MS apps but not other applications. Very difficult to do since majority of commons development are for Windows which will work with almost all their applications.
Reply:Microsoft does'nt really control much of the computer world like it used to, Most companies use Linux/Unix. But u might say a large percentage of Home uSers use Windows, But things are changing as Companies are switching to Linux/Unix/Solaris. There is not that much money in Operating Systems like there used to be , No One would cough out Large Sums of money to upgrade their operating Systems. Nowadays Money lies in the web, which is why Google and Yahoo are dominating the news
Reply:Trouble shoot it.. with a bazooka!