[Saxon]

In my earlier post, I may have slightly exaggerated my appreciation of Windows to make a rhetorical point. I have had problems with Windows, particularly uninstalling games, but, most of the time, it does pretty well. Going back to the plumbing metaphor, I would say the toilet flushes 9 times out of 10. I would prefer something that flushes 99 times out of 100, but there is another issue to consider as well.

The “fascist directions of Windows telling me how to do things” that another person refers to I see in a different light. I call it standardization, that wonderful system that allows me to drive through green lights all around the world and stop at the red lights. I like being able to get in any car in the world and know I have to put the key in the hole on the steering column and turn it. I guess they could have a button on the dash or a switch on the emergency brake, but standardization works well.

This is why I like Windows and why my staff all have Windows on their machines. If I transfer someone between sections, they can work. When I hire a new staff member, they can work. They all know where to put the key on the steering column. My IT guy likes Windows in the Office because it generally does what it is supposed to. Most of the problems I have had with Windows were related to games and this raises a key point. The business world likes Windows, Word, Excel and Access because these programs are standardized, work the very large majority of the time and people get training in them. This is what drives the computer market, at least in my mind. I have two personal computers at home. My staff have over about 65 machines at Last count. For my home stuff, I thought about other systems, I had heard a lot about Linux, but in the end I got lazy and went with Windows. For the office machines, there was no debate, we went with Windows.

Going back to the toilet (where I am sure some people would like to put my argument ;-) ) the standardization issue is why Windows is strong where most computers are used and why any competitor doesn’t just need to get their toilet to flush 99 times out of 100, they need to be 999 times out of 1000. They need to beat Windows on quality and on the ubiquitous nature of the system.