If you asked me to name the three scariest threats facing the human race, I’d give the same answer that most people would: nuclear war, global warming, and Windows.  So I was happy to learn that the federal government has decided to protect me from Microsoft.
Sometimes, when we face a really huge threat, we need the government to protect us.  This idea was dramatically dramatized in last year’s movie Deep Impact, which you might have missed, since it was only in theatres for about 15 minutes before spontaneously mutating into rental video cassettes.  The plot is that the astronomy community—which I sometimes wish would just shut up and leave us alone—announces that a comet is hurtling through space on a course that will cause it to smash into the Earth right before the end of the movie, and destroy all life on the planet (which consists primarily of actress Tea Leoni).
Our nation’s leaders, recognizing that the comet is (1) the greatest danger the human race has ever faced, and (2) unlikely to make large campaign contributions, decide to destroy it by launching a rocket containing Robert Duvall.  This tactic always worked for Marlon Brando in The Godfather, and it worked for Bruce Willis in Armageddon, but it seems to have failed this time.  When the world appears to be doomed, U.S. President Morgan Freeman, conveying the sincerity by means of eye bags the size of catcher’s mitts, announces that the government has a plan to save two million people who have been determined, by totally objective means, to be worthy of survival.  This VIP list includes: top government officials, doctors, relatives of top government officials, movie extras, scientists, and Monica Lewinsky.  The plan is that these people will spend two years in a cave in Missouri, along with precious artifacts of American culture, and, presumably, a huge quantity of deodorant.
But, just when you thought all appears to be lost, Robert Duvall manages to destroy most of the comet (for those who haven’t seen the movie, there’s the ending).  All that’s left is a small piece that falls harmlessly into the Atlantic Ocean, after which destroys New York and Washington D.C.  So it’s a happy ending after all.
But my point is, that when we are faced with a threat we cannot handle, we depend on our government to protect us.  And that’s exactly what’s happening now, as the antitrust division of the Justice Department takes on a huge and arrogant monopoly; a monopoly that, by totally dominating its market and ruthlessly eliminating competitors, has left us, the consumers, with no choice but to buy its products and pay whatever ridiculously inflated price it demands.  The Department?  The U.S. Postal Service.
No, sorry.  The federal government wouldn’t dare take on the Postal Service, which is heavily armed and recently tested a thermonuclear device.  So instead, the government is going after software giant Microsoft (motto: “We Have Worked Out All The Bugs”).
Microsoft’s No.1 product is Windows, which now comes installed on every computer in the world, and in many kitchen appliances.  Technically, Microsoft is an “operating system,” which means that it supplies your computer with the basic commands that it needs to suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, stop operating.  I speak from experience here.  Many a time I have spent hours writing a serious, thoughtful essay or report on am important issue, only to have Windows—which is often referred to as the French labor union of software—get into a snit and call a general computer strike that erases all my work moments before deadline, leaving me with no choice but to bang out a highly inaccurate essay, such as this one.
The big dispute between the government and Microsoft concerns the Internet “browser,” which is the piece of software that puts a message on your computer screen informing you that the Internet is currently busy and you should try again later.  As you can imagine, the potential market for this service is huge, so Microsoft would like you to use its browser and not somebody else’s.  Microsoft can be very insistent about this kind of thing.  On my current computer, Windows has created a little Earth-shaped icon on the screen, and if I click on it, it tries to get me to sign up for something called the Microsoft Network.  It’s like having an Amway representative right on my computer.  And the hell of it is, Windows will NOT allow me to get rid of this icon.  I’ve tried everything, including scrubbing the screen with harsh abrasive cleansers.
So I think the Justice Department should spend however many hundreds of millions of dollars it takes to figure out a way to get this thing off of my screen, even if it takes military force or—as a last resort—duct tape.  I also want Janet Reno to appoint somebody—I’m thinking Kenneth Starr—to look into the very real possibility that Windows is cheating at solitaire.  Above all, I think the government needs to immediately start constructing caves in Missouri, just in case the Postal service goes postal.

Krista Rae Depperschmidt
1999