[WinMac] Not that it is important, but . . . a platforms observation
John W. McCarthy(jwmcmac[at]flash.net)
Thu, 25 Mar 1999 05:43:40 -0600
listers:
Some observations:
I know arguments can be made both ways for both sides of the following
platform observations or for any other platform. I really feel the
swing is the way I'm seeing it at this time. I know these issues could
swing the other way and probably were the other way in times past. I'm
merely making an observation that seems to become more obvious to me as
I have listened to the comments on this list.
No one on the list ever seems to have expressed my observation
explicitly. As I see it, this observation has implicitly come to me
throughout the body of the list's comments during the time that I have
been reading the posts.
I did not formerly believe these observations but it is beginning to
appear . . .
1) MS products, especially their servers, have become more and more
proprietary/exclusionary to an extreme.
2) That the MS OS's have lately begun to eliminate the competition from
their environment by integrating their own software tightly into their
OS, whether it be Windows 95, 98 or NT . . .
-- this appearing to get in the way of any 3rd party software that might
want to play the game (no common playing field) . . .
. . . to the point that if you want to play in their environment you
must toe-the-line . . . again to an extreme.
-- realizing that this is not necessarily a bad idea (integrating their
various apps and OS's) but that (since they monopolize the market) it is
no longer a fair method since it is highly exclusionary to those who are
not privy to the inner workings of the OS (3rd party developers)
3) That these proprietary/exclusionary actions by MS can be covered by
the fact that it is a very real "battle" of sorts against those other competitors.
4) That if you are happy with being assimilated by the Borg (ha! ha!),
or are already assimilated, then you should continue with MS out the
kazoo. After all, they make some very good products.
5) That if you like freedom and versatility, you had better start
looking elsewhere than an OS that integrates all of its applications
tightly into its OS.
*** It also appears to my observation that . . .
1) Apple has been very proprietary but not exclusionary . . . in that .
. .
-- Apple's OS is highly manipulable in all areas that do not require security.
-- Apple's OS is highly extensible, to a fault perhaps. We all love
those 3rd party inits and control panels (that may slow the OS down --
but surprisingly often don't).
-- With OS-X Apple is going to an a broad Open Source and is currently
offering their source free to all developers who want to join in the
fun. This is a surprising change for Apple . . . and a good one. They
even offer most of their programming environment for free these days
(including Inside Mac).
3) Apple has been extremely proprietary with some of the inner parts of
its OS, but has most often sought to create foundational software upon
which 3rd parties could expand, if they have the genius to do it.
-- Quicktime, AppleScript, OpenDoc, etc. . .
4) That Apple's decision to go with an established Open Source OS
foundation is a great step in the correct direction and that it is a
beacon of light for the future of computing.
*** Apple appears to be positioned between the two extremes right now.
On the one side is MS's exclusionary software assimilating the world,
monopolizing every aspect of software, development and service.
On the other side is that other, mostly free, Open Source OS, Unix (in
its many forms), which is going to get there dinero in the service fees
(they hope --
this being a respectable plan).
In the middle is Apple -- proprietary, non-exclusionary, not service
oriented at all in the sense that they try to make their products and OS
as user friendly as possible so that no one needs any high tech service
-- which I for one think is great.
*** It appears that any OS is going to have problems on all sides of
this issue. This list exposes and deals with many of these issues.
I for my part like Apple's position in this field of play. It is the
position I would hope that many of you can appreciate.
Happy Holy Week
Patrick Kelly McCarthy
* Windows-MacOS Cooperation List *
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