Doc Searls: Microlith. Whatever else it’s about, lock-in appears to be, literally, the strategy.
I’d always laughed at the analogy of Microsoft as the Borg civilization from Star Trek. It’s getting more realistic all the time. This company is relentless in its assumption, backed by action, that it will assimilate everything that moves digitally.
The latest example is the patent for a “digital rights management operating system” that lets users do only what Microsoft and its partners want users to do. Do you doubt that such stuff will soon be part of Windows?
Most people are sheep, it turns out. They take what’s put in front of them.
Or maybe we’re all like the proverbial frog that’s tossed into hot water and, sensibly jumps out, but when put in cool water that’s slowly brought to a boil just sits there and gets cooked.
Open source looks better and better to me all the time.