I want to say that there is great strength to a weaker form of the OS
monopoly argument: the standardisation of the operating system does,
IMO, lead to greater benefits for users. The operating system, from a
user's perspective, is no different from a keyboard, and the user
gains no benefit from the unnatural imposition of competition in
keyboard layouts. A layered architecture (as provided by *nix and the
unfairly maligned X Windows system) provides the capabilities of user
specific customisation to suit taste, disabilities, and so on. OS as
utility is well amenable to central planning -- the trouble with the
Microsoft issue is not the monopoly but the Microsoft.
--ravi
