Operating on an Operating System
In today's market there are two choices; Microsoft and Apple. It is the choice between two vendors each vying to be more vile than the other. One paints the other as horrid and unclean, uncool and nerdy, wracked with viruses and other ailments. The other calmly points out the other is incapable of running a majority of applications. They both contain serious issues and each is prohibitively expensive. Their cost, of several hundred dollars for an operating system, is quietly hidden away in a computer bundle purchase. Hundreds of millions of consumers stand and say in the defence of this pyramid of monopolistic stupidity, "They're just a business!", "This isn't communism!" or perhaps the ubiquitous "They're there to earn money!"
There is a solution to the woes of the operating system world. International standards to create an interoperability test. This test, a suite of simple facsimiles of applications from games to animation to math programs to office tools, comprise a core of applications which must be able to function properly on any accredited operating system. The test applications would be freely available, and a simple download and double click to run. All operating systems must pass this test and thus by passing this test is capable of running all applications in the world.
In a free market, an individual has sole discretion to decide which operating system to use for any application. Perhaps the user wishes to use a light-weight gadget free OS, or perhaps a heavy-weight gadget packed OS, or perhaps one known for its security, or one known for its ability to function with animation tools. The current market provides no such choice. The crown jewel of capitalism, consumer choice, is missing from the operating system market. Developers do not have the resources to build applications capable of functioning on platforms from Windows to Linux, they must pick and choose. They choose the operating system with the most market share. In the early days, Microsoft had luckily obtained a significant market share and by this random chance holds the entire market with their monopoly. Applications should be OS independent but they are not, restricting consumers to few choices. Either they use Windows or they have a computer which they cannot use. This lack of choice is justification for market intervention by the government. Market winners should be determined by innovation and ingenuity; not luck.
The entry cost to the operating systems market is prohibitively high. The development of an operating system is meaningless if there are no applications which can run atop it. The cost of developing both operating system and an accompanying suite of applications is too high for any small team of individuals. This bar against development stifles innovation and product development. Capitalism is the freedom for people to improve society with better products and let consumers decide superiority. If the market does not provide then the government must intervene to eliminate entry costs.
Corporations are built to shareholder value and shareholder profit, not public good. It cannot be expected that corporations will cater to the will of the people for their sake. The monopolies of today will be perpetuated unto tomorrow and again the next day. Only the action of government, through the voice of both reason and people, can pierce the shield the corporations have constructed. It is not an assault on profit-making, nor on market-organization, but on monopolies attacking the very principles the market system was meant to be built upon.
The ability of all operating systems to pass a single interoperability test set by an international organization opens the door for a world where developers create applications that work on any platform, can be judged from any angle and consumers that have a plethora of choices. It is the world capitalism was meant to create.
-Ultrapunk
There is a solution to the woes of the operating system world. International standards to create an interoperability test. This test, a suite of simple facsimiles of applications from games to animation to math programs to office tools, comprise a core of applications which must be able to function properly on any accredited operating system. The test applications would be freely available, and a simple download and double click to run. All operating systems must pass this test and thus by passing this test is capable of running all applications in the world.
In a free market, an individual has sole discretion to decide which operating system to use for any application. Perhaps the user wishes to use a light-weight gadget free OS, or perhaps a heavy-weight gadget packed OS, or perhaps one known for its security, or one known for its ability to function with animation tools. The current market provides no such choice. The crown jewel of capitalism, consumer choice, is missing from the operating system market. Developers do not have the resources to build applications capable of functioning on platforms from Windows to Linux, they must pick and choose. They choose the operating system with the most market share. In the early days, Microsoft had luckily obtained a significant market share and by this random chance holds the entire market with their monopoly. Applications should be OS independent but they are not, restricting consumers to few choices. Either they use Windows or they have a computer which they cannot use. This lack of choice is justification for market intervention by the government. Market winners should be determined by innovation and ingenuity; not luck.
The entry cost to the operating systems market is prohibitively high. The development of an operating system is meaningless if there are no applications which can run atop it. The cost of developing both operating system and an accompanying suite of applications is too high for any small team of individuals. This bar against development stifles innovation and product development. Capitalism is the freedom for people to improve society with better products and let consumers decide superiority. If the market does not provide then the government must intervene to eliminate entry costs.
Corporations are built to shareholder value and shareholder profit, not public good. It cannot be expected that corporations will cater to the will of the people for their sake. The monopolies of today will be perpetuated unto tomorrow and again the next day. Only the action of government, through the voice of both reason and people, can pierce the shield the corporations have constructed. It is not an assault on profit-making, nor on market-organization, but on monopolies attacking the very principles the market system was meant to be built upon.
The ability of all operating systems to pass a single interoperability test set by an international organization opens the door for a world where developers create applications that work on any platform, can be judged from any angle and consumers that have a plethora of choices. It is the world capitalism was meant to create.
-Ultrapunk
posted by Ultrapunk at
11:35 PM
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