She went on to buy a PC from a backstreet bespoke maker, which did everything she wanted in performance terms, but the system did not include any brand names she recognised such as Internet Explorer, Word or Outlook Express. After vacillating over the matter for weeks, she finally took the machine back and had the entire range of Microsoft software installed. And now she's happy. New users are like that - they aren't concerned with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates' alleged quest for world domination, or the old duel between Apple and its Macintosh and Microsoft and Windows. They just want hardware and software that do what they say on the box.
Analysts have conflicting views.
Graham Lea, an Amsterdam-based Microsoft watcher and member of the Computer Law Association, believes there are several issues to be considered. Real competition could exist in the marketplace. At the moment, Microsoft appears to force manufacturers of machines to pre-install Windows, and if you go into any high street computer retailer you just can't find anything other than Windows. As a result, he claims that reducing Microsoft's influence over the market could lead to better quality software for UK computer users. The number of bugs that are shipped in some of this Microsoft software is quite horrific.