[ale] Shelf Space

[Robert Heaven]

Over the past several years, every time I go into a computer store (i.e.,
CompUSA) I always look at the shelf where they keep the operating system
software. Historically, the ratio of Microsoft products (DOS originally and
then Windows more recently) to Others has always been about 10 to 1.
Yesterday, while in the CompUSA store in Duluth, near Gwinnett Mall, I had
a pleasant surprise. The ratio of Linux to Windows was about 8 to 2 in
favor of Linux. What's even more refreshing is that, in the 10 minutes I
was standing there 3 different people walked up and pickup up a Linux box
and headed for the checkout counter.

The things I see happening in the software operating system industry today
sort of reminds me of a "Fractured Fairy Tale" cartoon I saw many years ago
on the "Bullwinkle" cartoon show. (I think I just dated myself) There was
this greedy king that kept taxing the subjects more and more because he
loved his gold more than anything else. All day he lay around in his pile
of gold and looking at it and playing with it. And the people of the
kingdom were very sad. Then one day, while the king was swimming in his
pool filled with gold he noticed something odd. The people of the kingdom
were laughing and singing and were happy. This, of course, angered the king
very much. When he looked out from his castle he saw all the people of the
kingdom going about their daily business, trading goods, eating and in
general being happy. He thought to himself, "How can this be? They have no
gold to buy things. How can they be carrying on business without gold." So,
when the king went down into the village he saw, to his shock, that the
people were not using gold at all. They were using turnips. The moral of
the story was: The king in all his greed, became the poorest man in the
kingdom.

So, guess what King Bill Gates. The people are using Turnips now. We don't
need your gold anymore.