> The issue, as I see it, is very simple. This should be applied not just > regionally, but globally: Open PC. Mandate: The Consumer is given the > ultimate right and therefore choice to determine which Operating System, if > any, should be installed at 'Point of Sale'.
Nice thought. Instead we had the EU pseudo-pissing on Microsoft's leg by going on about RealPlayer and Netscape and whatnot. Enabling real choices for the customer was unfortunately not in their interest. But then....to expect politicians and parliament-members to actually work for the common good is pretty silly to begin with, I sadly suppose. The only people affecting change are individuals, who do out-of-the-majority's-box actions like demanding a refund for an imposed OS. Regardless of money involved, everybody doing so is to be applauded just for principle!
PS: I much prefer the word 'customer'. To me being called 'consumer' is almost an insult. Customer implies choice and free will...consumer doesn't. Just my take on it.
Where the U.S. is concerned, the FTC uses the term Consumer. But, have it your way, 'Customer' it is!
Thus spake the master programmer: "After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"