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For many years now I’ve had the belief that Internet sociology exists. The belief came to light during my tenure as the webmaster for SanTech Computer Services. Everyone has their own personality, patterns, tendencies and so forth, this also holds true for Internet usage. Everyone uses the Internet differently. For some, their Internet use revolves around their life. For others, their life revolves around their Internet use. Then for a very small percentage of Internet users, their life and their Internet use form a somewhat symbiotic relationship where the individual has actually gotten to the point of incorporating a lifestyle that includes Internet usage to improve upon that lifestyle. The Internet itself also has its own patterns. These patterns are more noticeable on a local level but global patterns can be identified as well. ...

You’ve finally set off to design a great web site. You have a good grasp of Flash, a great understanding of JavaScript and Microsoft FrontPage. In addition, you’ve got great ideas for content and you’ve even gone through the ChrisShort.net Web Site Design Do’s and Don’ts and got some great ideas on how to design your web site better. The problem is that with Microsoft FrontPage alone your site will be limited by the code it produces. Throwing up a lot of Flash and using JavaScript will limit it even more. HTML, the heart and soul of the World Wide Web, at its core is a simple language. Shouldn’t simple web sites be the result of it? No? How about simple looking web sites with great content? Now you get the idea. ...

For the past year or so Microsoft has repeatedly said no to Open Source and more recently after numerous attempts to say no has opened up some of its source code to various businesses and governments. Imagine a world where Microsoft Windows and Office were totally open. That’s not likely; so let’s imagine a world where Microsoft made its products a little more open. What do you think would happen if Microsoft kept its kernel under wraps and released just its GUI out to the world as Open Source? Once the major code heads cleaned out all the crap, I imagine a Redhat or a Mandrake would quickly come out with its combo of Linux with the Windows GUI. Similar attempts have been made in the past to make a Windows-like GUI but now it seems that the Linux community is looking at Gnome and KDE to “bridge the gap” between Windows and Linux users. Why would Microsoft do this? Well, control of course. If the majority of users were using a Microsoft-based GUI then most of the people in world would feel more inclined to use these operating systems as opposed to learning a new one. Think about it, the power of Unix with the ease of Windows. Another thing is money. Microsoft could charge a small lump some for the GUI to individuals and corporations or (the more likely of the two) charge a small fee for every copy of the Windows GUIed operating system sold. This would take away from the freeness of Linux but I’d bet money IBM would jump all over it. Consumers would as well. But, if you made Linux and Unix as easy as Windows then the market share of Windows would begin to slip a little. Linux and Unix would still need a competitive productivity suite. ...

This isn’t a complete history of the series of Microsoft Windows. These are my views and opinions of events that took place as I experienced them. My account of events might not even hold true, but it’s my account of things that happened, how I experienced them. It starts when I started in the tech business. A complete timeline of Windows and the Microsoft organization (including the Evolution of Windows) can be found at about.com. ...