Whose OS is it?
Disclaimer.
Yeah, OK rcgreen, we know about your middle age right-wing phobias and your
anti-Microsoft wannabe urban hip bullshit. Keep it short and sweet or we
will read some other thread.
I'll keep that in mind. Security is like a kaleidoscope. What you see depends
on the angle you're looking from.
IBM PC, 1981, MS-DOS. I guess you could say that an OS is only there to serve
up a killer app. Remember, a killer app is defined as an app that sells computers.
An OS is nothing without a killer app.
One that comes to mind from that early era is Lotus 1 2 3, a spreadsheet that
made the IBM PC an essential business tool. Other later candidates for this
designation might be Netscape, or Microsoft Word.
Now, remember that the OS is only there to serve the killer app. When you ask people
what they do on their computers (not computer hobbyists, but regular folks), they
are not likely to say "I run Windows". They will tell you what app they use to
do their work.
The reason I ask the paranoiac question, "whose OS is it?", is because of what
I percieve as a major shift in the "ownership" of the killer app of our age.
In the 1980s, the user was the focus of the killer app. You bought Lotus 1 2 3
because it helped you get your work done. Microsoft was content to provide
an OS that enabled that killer app, and they made plenty of money doing this.
The world is a lot more sophisticated today, and more people are "on the internet".
Some have suggested that "the internet" is the killer app. Maybe it was for a while
in the 90s, but we have moved on.
I'd like to tell you about a novel written by a 1950s hipster/junkie named William
Burroughs. You don't need to remember anything about it but the title. The Naked Lunch.
(the title refers to a frozen moment when everyone sees what’s on the end of every fork)
http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?ID=139
It refers to a sort of revelation, a sudden discovery of something (perhaps unpleasant)
that should have been obvious all along, but only now, for a moment, made plain.
Now you know. "Oh my god, now I see it!"
What has this to do with killer apps? Well, according to rcgreen, today's killer app
is not a spreadsheet, a word processor, or a web browser, but "oh, my god, no not that!"
Why should I tell you? The naked lunch is when you see what is on the end of that
fork, not when I rant my paranoid vision.
Here are two clues. In one sense it is obvious that "multimedia" and entertainment
is driving the sales of PCs. So far so good. What's so horrible about that?
Because it is a Jeckyl and Hyde monster, hiding the real activity behind the curtain.
Second clue. You need to become familiar with this slogan. "the monetization of eyballs"
http://www.highlands.com/Lexik/bdc.html#eyeballs
"WTF?", you say. The economics of the PC has changed. In the 80s, Lotus made money selling
1 2 3. Microsoft made money selling MS-DOS, and you made money because you had the tools
to do your job. Today the money is in "eyballs", "pay per click" ads, and "market research".
Let me translate that into "Earth language", Adware and spyware.
Let me be more "naked". Adware and spyware are not nuisances, put on the net to annoy
users. They are the business strategy that an increasing numbers of companies are
relying on as their main or only "business model". Enterpreneurs have "bet the farm"
on adware and spyware as their ticket to riches. These are not script kiddies looking
to deface a web page, they are "big players" hungry for the bucks they need to
pay their membership at the country club. They consider themselves to be the real
owners of the net, while you "security guys" are just speed bumps on their road to riches.
Which "side" is Microsoft on? Yeah, I saved the Microsoft-bashing for the finale.
Microsoft, after all, is only a corporation, not the embodiment of the personality
of founder Gates, or present CEO Ballmer. Corporations have no "soul". They must serve
the prime directive, make money for the shareholders. They make money by serving the
interests of customers (customers being people who will give them money).
Why am I babbling about this? Remember the role of the OS. It is to serve as a platform
for the killer app. That's how they make money. Keep the customer happy. If the guy who stands
to make millions (billions?) monetizing eyballs, serving strategically placed ads is
M'softs real "customer", then M'soft will serve his needs by making a platform for
his killer app. If you, wanting to block ads, are the true "customer", then M'soft
will happily help you block ads, and even design an OS that is not ad-friendly.
They cannot do both, without being schizo.
OK, then whose OS is it then? Is it a platform for adware or a platform for you?
What's on that fork?
:cool:
