Stop the Harassment by Microsoft
Though I had only observed the Justice Department’s antitrust prosecution of Microsoft from afar, I tended to side with the software giant. Actions against Microsoft seemed mostly motivated by sour grapes against a market winner. They were to be condemned.
Then I got my first PC. I was reluctant to switch from the Apple Mac that I had used for 10 years. But despite the company’s resurgence, efficiency in the business world seemed to dictate that computer users make the PC their platform. Before switching from the Mac operating system, I knew that I would have to contend with inelegance and clumsiness. I did not know that my new computer would seek to proselytize me.
Microsoft’s Windows 98 is the mind of my PC. And that mind is focused squarely on convincing me to use Microsoft for the Internet.
I guess I started off with my computer on the wrong foot. When setting up my preferences I chose not use the Microsoft Internet Explorer as my Internet browser. My computer seems shocked and disappointed. I have let it down. Each time I log onto the Internet with my non-Microsoft browser, my computer is incredulous. It asks me, “Are you sure you do not want to use the Internet Explorer for this function?” At other times, it reminds me of my bizarre decision and asks, “Would you like to make the Internet Explorer your default program for this function?”
My computer shows its dismay even when I am not going online. Whenever I run Microsoft programs such as its word processor or appointment organizer or e-mail manager, it reminds me that “This application will run more efficiently with the Internet Explorer as your default online manager.” Then it beseeches me: “Would you like to install it now?” My computer came loaded with so many ways of accessing Microsoft for the Internet that it is hard to avoid using it. My desktop has large icons that say “Internet Explorer” and “Set Up the Microsoft Network” and “Set Up the Internet Explorer.”
Other online services are buried in a folder on the desktop. When I try to add the Microsoft programs to that folder, my computer seems hurt. It tells me that “You cannot move the selected item to this location. Would you like to create a shortcut to this item instead?” The task bar, permanently on the bottom of the screen, has a convenient “e” logo, which, when selected, runs the Microsoft Internet Explorer.
The Windows 98 operating system uses windows as its means of organizing the computer’s contents. Whether the window contains my documents or the computer’s control panel or my word processing programs, one thing remains constant: At the upper-right corner flies a rendition of Microsoft’s four-colored trademark flag. And when the cursor passes over that flag, the banner mutates into a spinning globe with the Microsoft Internet Explorer’s “e” logo in the middle. The computer then dials the telephone as it launches its favorite program. One time when I closed the Microsoft Explorer after an inadvertent launch, I actually caught myself telling my computer “I’m sorry” out of fear that my disrespect would lead to another crash and three hours on the technical support line.
All of this leads me to conclude that Microsoft is using its preeminence in operating systems and other software applications to corner the market on Internet browsers. No other program can reasonably compete. Every time I use my computer, I feel guilty for not doing what it so desperately wants me to do. I also feel harassed.
The company claims that its applications programs and operating system have been designed to include the added functionality of being integrated with the World Wide Web. This appears to be true. But surely there is a way to take advantage of the Web without being forced to use the Microsoft browser exclusively.
It seems like the government’s case against Microsoft is proceeding slowly, as these matters tend to do. I would assume that at some point there will be discussions of a settlement. I have a suggestion for the settlement’s terms. Microsoft, instead of spending so much effort developing ways of pressing computer consumers to use its browser for the Internet, agrees to devote those resources to making its programs more elegant and efficient. It agrees to train our computers’ minds on making our tasks easier.
With this degree of enterprise devoted to the job, maybe Windows 98 will be less like Mac ’85 and may even graduate to become like Mac ’92.
