A Bit Of History
To Put Things Into Perspective The secular universe is primarily driven by three motivators: Money, Power (i.e. Control), and Sex. As a subset of this universe, the computer world is all about Money and Control. In the 70’s, when IBM was the goliath of the computer industry, they were driven by a vision of how they expected (and wanted) the business world to work. In brief it was that: 1) all computing would be done on mainframes [users would have terminals], and that 2) these mainframes would be run by computer professionals (e.g. programmers, network specialists, etc.). [IBM’s underlying belief was that 95+% of the population was technically ignorant, and that the only place for these people was on the fringes of the computer world (e.g. using a terminal). That’s you they were talking about.] Referring back to the motivators, since IBM sold the hardware (being the only successful manufacturer of mainframes) and trained (directly or indirectly) the software people: 1) they would take in BIG Money, and 2) would essentially be in complete Control of the computing world. As the saying goes "Nice work if you can get it." When a few kids came out with the first Apple, they profoundly challenged this business model in two ways. First, they contended that real computing could be done on a self-contained desktop machine (not a mainframe). Second, they demonstrated that average every-day people (i.e. non-computer professionals) could run computers just fine (if the computer’s operating system was designed with this in mind). At first IBM dismissed this as a juvenile toy. When Apple started making Money (uh-oh a threat to the Business Plan) they begrudgingly threw a third-rate "PC" out for trusting (i.e. gullible) consumers and businessmen to buy. (To give credence to IBM’s view of their technical incompetence, many bought it — and still do buy inferior PCs. Consider this: despite having some 250,000 employees at the time, IBM thought so little of this PC that they outsourced the writing of its operating system software. When Bill Gates was hired to do this job, he was also steeped in the IBM perspective: we are dealing with idiots here so keep Control. Accordingly, MsDOS was not any businessperson/ consumer oriented operating system, but rather a simplified version of the operating system IBM was using on its mainframes (i.e. a system designed for and run by computer professionals). And so it has continued to this day. Although the roles are now reversed (Microsoft has taken the Power from IBM) the mentality is the same. Essentially every aspect of a PC that has been consumer friendly (i.e. gives the user more Control) has: 1) originated at Apple, and 2) has been begrudgingly (and often inadequately) implemented by Microsoft. Microsoft is a big company with many talented people — so this is not an accident! {Please read our special section on Microsoft for more unvarnished information.} The purpose of this site is to make you better informed. My belief is that if you are more educated then you will be better able to resist the concerted (professional, slick, sophisticated, enticing) effort that is being made by: 1) Microsoft (along with their enabling box assemblers), and 2) MIS people. Their main objectives are
to take as much Control as you will grant them,
and to take as much of your Money that you allow them. It is completely up to you whether you are victimized by these efforts. | 
