Or then there's the bar-code and scanner. Since companies like Gillette knew when a TV commercial was going to air and send people out shopping, they could force the supermarkets into displaying their razor blades exactly how they liked it, and when they liked it, and how much to re-order. But give the supermarkets the power to gather incredible volumes of data on their shoppers, detailing not only when shoppers bought something, but also what else they bought, and that information can be used to hold Gillette to ransom instead. Looking at these examples can help you understand the economic and power shifts that have occurred in the computer industry. But it can also teach us how to Kill Microsoft.
Lets start analyzing the situation.
When cable and satellite came and joined the remote control, the smaller stations could now reach a whole continent without the need of affiliates. Boot manager software lets us switch between operating systems very easily, just like the remote control let you change channels. The internet gives small software companies the power to distribute their product to the whole world cheaply, just like cable and satellite did for independent TV stations. Making it easy to switch between operating systems, easier than what Boot Managers do, is priority number one for anyone who wishes to knock Microsoft upside the head. Invent the equivalent of the remote control for computer operating systems, one that can let you jump from one OS to the other without requiring a shut-down.