The Microsoft monopoly is nearly unassailable. Everyone wants Windows not because it is better or cheaper but because that is what everyone has and what everyone has always had. Massive entrenchment causes massive inertia. Microsoft will go on producing mediocre products at exorbitant prices because people prefer a known quantity - however flawed and expensive - to change.
Change, even when it brings something much better and much cheaper, usually demands a modicum of effort on the part of people to learn how to benefit from the change.
But people will spend a great deal of time and money trying to avoid effort, even when that effort is minimal and very, very much to their overall benefit.
Discussion on:
Message 2 of 1
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
