During the past couple of years, I've read many articles about Microsoft and other large companies. Some of them are simply regurgitated press releases, suitable for landfills and bird cage bottoms. Some are fiery denunciations of everything Microsoft; I wouldn't even consider insulting my birds by lining their cages with these articles. Unthinking attacks against this company by the ignorant are not appealing.
Sometimes, though, an article appears which honestly presents information which is important to be shared. You see, sometimes Microsoft does something right, and in those cases they deserve to be praised. Sometimes they do something wrong, and in those cases we had best make it known. Not with a shrill, unthinking attack. That's not what's needed. What people need to understand is the potential ramifications and what they can do about the issue.
Why? Microsoft is by far the biggest single player on the internet. This company has the most popular browser (Internet Explorer), the most used WYSIWYG HTML editor (FrontPage), the biggest operating system (Windows in all of it's flavors) and the second most used web server (IIS). The company is huge, larger than most countries on the planet, with annual revenues higher than the gross national products of all of the third world nations of the world combined.
Because of this immense size (and associated power), it's very important to keep an eye (or two) on this company at all times. There are few people on Earth with more power than Bill Gates, and even the heads of major countries do not weld the authority of this man and his team.
The important thing to remember is that Microsoft is larger than most countries on the planet. It has a bigger budget than Russia (by far), it has more power than the United Nations (but in a different arena). It's probably the largest single economic entity on the planet (next to maybe Cisco). As such the company has an incredible amount of power. It is also interesting to note that the bill of rights and other controls on government power do not apply to companies.
The point is that Microsoft has so much power that it must be watched. Decisions made by Bill Gates probably have far more effect on our daily lives than decisions made by the US congress or the president. After all, Bill Gates generally does not need to sell his ideas to any body like the congress - he can just make a decision and it's active.
Microsoft makes a decision to create X-Box and that literally changes the gaming market. In fact, this is probably the major factor for the failure of Sega - there is only room for 3 game boxes and one had to go.
Since Microsoft (and other large companies) are run by humans with human failings, it's absolutely critical that we the people ensure that they understand exactly what we do and do not want. For example, Microsoft decided to cancel the MCSE certification for Windows NT at the end of 2001. Due to hard lobbying and many articles written by my peers and myself, we forced Microsoft to change their policy. MCSE for windows NT will now never expire.
Another example is Smart Tags, a very insidious invention which could have dramatically increased Microsoft's power over the internet. Many hard articles by computer professionals forced Microsoft to change their policy and seriously back down on their plans.
Large companies do not have formal, established public groups such as the Congress in which to cause change or resist implementations. There are no Microsoft congressional hearings at which we can elect representatives to speak for us.
With Microsoft we must vote with our stock purchases, our pocketbooks and our writings. We must be vocal, for that is the only way to get our point across, and we must maintain our vigilance. In more ways than one, our future may depend on our actions.
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Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.