I remember my father's old 55 Chevy. It had an AM radio, and a
heater. If you wanted to cool off in the summer time you could open
the "fly" Windows which essentially went so far forward that air would
blow into the car, with quite a bit of force. No air conditioning.
In really hot areas like Arizona, you could get a little "swamp
cooler" - a mesh of hay that you covered with water, and put in front
of the fly windows. It wasn't great, but it was what Chevy offered at
the time. It was what all of the auto makers offered.
Then one of our friends bought a car radio that had an FM Radio in
it. The music sounded better, and we loved to ride in their car. You
didn't have any control over the programming, other than which station
to tune into, but I especially enjoyed listening to the classical
Radio station.
Eventually, the car makers started pre-installing AM-FM Radios in
their cars. They were still hot in the summer time, but at least you
could listen to soft calming music during a stressful rush hour.
Then one of our friends got an 8-track tape player. You could listen
to your favorite band or opera or symphony, and switch tapes depending
on your mood. You didn't have to listen to endless commercials, and
you didn't have to get stressed out by the news.
A few years later, lots of new cars had 8-track players. They also
had Air conditioning. Now, it was more comfortable to ride in a car
and listen to the stereo than it was to stay home. The family often
just went for a drive to the country, or the mountains, or a nearby
city - just to enjoy the stereo.
Then a friend replaced the 8-track with a cassette player. There was
still the AM and FM radio, and the Cassette player didn't skip to the
next track when you hit a bump. The sound was better too, you didn't
hear the whisper of a nearby track. The cassettes were smaller too,
so you could put 10-12 cassetes where you had previously put 3-4 8-
tracks. Before long, all of the cars came with Cassette players
instead of 8-tracks. The air conditioning was also a bit easier to
control - so you didn't end up freezing or cooking.
And then one of my friends installed a CD-Player. The CD-Player was
much nicer, the sound was much clearer, and you could skip to your
favorite songs. You could even set it up to only play your favorite
songs. And you could store about 50 CDs in the space that used to
hold 10-12 Cassettes.
A few years later, all of the new cars had CD players built into the
radio. Some even had the ability to load up multiple CDs. You could
load up 4-5 of your favorite CDs and even pick your favorite songs
from each of them. And now the air conditioner had thermostatic
control, and vents into the back seat, so that everybody had just
enough and not too much.
Imagine if Henry Ford had tried to restrict the enhancements to the
radio, by tying it to the patent licenses for the engine, suspension,
and steering. Then suppose that he decided that no one should have
anything but an AM radio. How many decades would it be with people
installing the new radios, cassetes, or CD players before the
automotive Industry finally broke down and started putting in their
own upgraded entertainment systems.
Note that each round of innovation wasn't instigated by the car
makers, it was instigated by car owners who purchased new custom
entertainment systems, and either installed it themselves, or had them
installed by the person or store that sold them the entertainment
system.
Microsoft would like us to believe that the Operating System is the
"Engine" of the car, and that switching to another operating system is
like swapping out the engine or the transmission.
Linux users perceive the Operating system as more like the
entertainment system, something that can easily be replaced with
something superior. Linux users can easily replace Windows with
Linux, share Linux with Windows, and/or replace one Linux distribution
with another.
Microsoft has tried to convince the OEMs that Windows or Vista, and
ONLY Microsoft's system should ever be available on the PC. Apple
pushed back and insisted that UNIX should be the primary operating
system and that Windows could supplement UNIX. Apple is turning out
record high profits, has moved to 3rd place by unit volumes, and first
place by revenues. New players like ACER and ASUS have less loyalty
to Microsoft and are far more willing to experiment with alternatives.
The OEMs know that end-users are doing **something** with Linux,
because PCs that don't support Linux don't sell very well at all.
They are also getting other indicators, such as customers who don't
buy a lot of extra Windows software, customers who don't seem to need
much Windows support, and customers who won't purchase warranties that
can be voided by removing or replacing Windows.
At the same time, when the OEMs offer Linux without Windows, or "No
OS" options, the sales aren't all that great.
Even those who have top-of-the-line CD Players still like to listen to
the AM Radio for things like traffic reports, financial news, and talk
radio - especially on long drives during rush hour. That
Even Linux users like to have Windows capabilities.
Eventually, the OEMs will figure out that their customers really want
*nix AND Windows. The price might be higher (Like Macs), but having
the flexibility, additional functionality, security, and stability of
Linux, along with the capabilities of existing Windows applications.
The good news, for Microsoft, is that they can keep Windows 7 "lean
and simple" and get it out quickly, possibly even in 3-6 months -
because they don't need to install Linux-killers. This Windows 7
capability, if it is fully backward compatible with Wnidows 2000 and
Windows XP - including ALL 3rd party applications, such a system, even
running as an "appliance" application under Linux, or even as a WINE
library, could easily be worth as much as the current "Native Mode"
operating system, and could be MUCH more popular than Vista.
Who knows, it might even restart the economy.
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