HK wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
Eisboch wrote:
wrote in message
...


It is not just Microsoft, adobe is the same way. There are now PDFs
all over the internet that you can't open with a version of the
reader
that runs on W98, yet it is still just a picture of a page. Where is
the increased value ... other than making software companies a little
richer.



Hmmmm... With that logic, the automobile industry should have
stopped with
the model "T".

Eisboch


If the actual benefit to the customer didn't improve they should have
kept building model Ts. Probably why they did for 18 years.
Creating a new format that is not backward compatible, simply because
they can is pure greed.


It's also how companies stay in business.

Eisboch


That only is accurate if they make a superior product than the
competition. If MS continues to make a product that the consumer is
not happy with, it opens the door for serious competition.


Yes, there are all sorts of systems software manufacturers making great
inroads into Microsoft's market share on PC operating systems. Why,
there's x....and y...and z.

Having said that, though, I do believe Apple's porting of UNIX into
Leopard (or Leopard onto UNIX) and its use of the UNIX foundation are
pretty slick. Apple's business model requires it to charge premium
prices for its hardware, though, and in today's overly competitive
market, that is keeping it from attaining the market share it might
achieve if it operated differently.

You are missing the most obvioius, even with charging close to double
the cost for a comparable PC system, Apple has doubled it's market share
since the introduction of Vista. If Apple did change it business model
of being a systems company and not a computer company, MS would be in a
world of hurt.