Submitted to SF Chron and Ex
about 6/2/98

Once upon a time in Silicon Valley, there was a computer company named Apple. This company was a pioneer in desktop computers, and introduced some of the first assembled models. Earlier microcomputers were kits for hobbyists.

There was competition in the Operating System at the time. There was UCSD Pascal, CPM, Apple's ProDos, plus the newer MSDOS. This is where things got interesting. Apple attempted to leverage their monopoly on pre-assembled desktop computer hardware by forcing the business community to accept their proprietary operating system and no other.

"What Apple attempted to do," explained a DOJ spokesman, "was to make their Mac computer start up with a graphic desktop. This would make it excessively difficult for competing operating systems to run on the machine. This is not satisfactory. Apple must provide a command line interface at startup, allowing other operating systems to compete."

The initial charges were made by Digital Research, who claimed that giving an operating system away free along with the computer was restraint of trade. Spokesmen for Kaypro Corp. and Osborne Corp. agreed with this assessment, and pointed out that every computer to date has allowed for multiple operating systems at bootup.

Well, that was years ago - back in the 1980's. Fortunately for us, the Dept. of Justice prevailed. Apple was forced to offer a command line interface, opening up the Macintosh market to various operating systems. And the market spoke: we now know that the graphic interface (and the "mouse" cursor-moving toy) was a passing fad. Most people chose the competing CPM from the startup menu. And of course adults use keyboards. Just think of all the economic waste if the computer industry had gotten sidetracked by cutesy graphic screens.

And think how much longer it would have been before businesses standardized on WordStar and Lotus123 running on CPM. Thanks to the DOJ's attention to enforcing the antitrust laws, in 1998 nearly all large and medium-sized businesses have microcomputers. They are even popping up in the living rooms of the wealthy. It is said that Madonna has a Portable Microcomputer she transports in her car. President Clinton has promised that every university will have a microcomputer by 2000.