"The Wonderful Microsoft"

Early this morning I tried to download Professor Wittkower's "schedule update" from Blackboard. It was in Word 2007. I, probably like most of you, still use Word 2003. We all know that Word 2003 can't open Word 2007 documents. I don't know about you, but I can't afford over $400 for this new program. This leads me to my concern for this week.

Is this price justifiable? There seems to be a lack of concern for the consumer coupled with the primary concern of bolstering the bottom line. I foresee two things happening and possibly both can happen. First, consumers will not buy Microsoft products any more and there will be enormous numbers of people switching to another company such as Linux. Second, the government will once again have to step in and crack down on Microsoft. Either way, Microsoft may be increasing its bottom line in the short run, but in the long run I don't see how this can pay off. Not to mention the whole idea of charging someone $400+ for a software program raises many moral and ethical suspicions.