A Modest Proposal for Microsoft, Apple, and other O.S. makers...

[regnaD kciN]

So far, Windows Vista seems to have provoked an avalanche of complaints, and I'm starting to hear the same about the latest version of OS X.whatever.

So, a proposal for a new law regarding operating system makers: Every time you issue a major revision (definition: something the consumer has to buy, rather than a bug-fix patch made available for free), the previous version of the O.S. becomes public domain. Not that people have access to the source, but that the O.S. itself can be downloaded, installed, and used for free.

Think about it -- if Microsoft knew that releasing Vista would mean they would no longer get any revenue from XP, wouldn't they have to make sure that Vista was such a huge improvement (in features and reliability) that people would flock to lay out their cash, even knowing they could use XP from then on without charge? And might Apple make sure that the latest cat-named revision of their O.S. was a substantial leap over the previous one, and didn't break older software that people were counting on?

Of course, it wouldn't make much difference to Linux users...

[Yavin4]

1. Linux Rules The World

It makes no economic sense to keep buying the next O.S. None. This is why the developing world uses Linux.