It’s easy to place the cause for some the world’s ills on defects in Microsoft’s software, and I’m going to make it even easier. The implied claim in this headline may seem outrageous at first blush. But I would rather present some of the possibilities — serious and otherwise — before you dismiss it completely.

The other day, I was talking to someone from AT&T about exchanging a phone. While I was waiting for the service representative to bring up our account on her terminal, I asked her if she was using Windows. As she apologized for the delay in retrieving the information, she said she was.

I cannot tell you how often I encounter the same difficulties as I make those customer service phone calls for one reason or another. It seems inevitable that, whenever slowdowns are experienced, it has to be on a Windows installation.

In fact, I’ve observed the very same situation when making bank transactions. It doesn’t matter which bank. I’m not aware of any that do not use a Windows-based bank management application. If anyone knows of a Mac or Linux alternative, do let me know which bank, so I can see if they just happen to have a local branch.

Story continued in this week’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter.

This article was posted on Sunday, March 1st, 2009 at 6:20 PM and is filed under News and tagged with: customer service, economic crisis, information, Linux, Mac, management, Microsoft, phone, situation, Windows, Windows Installation.