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Something's not right here. What is it that typical ISPs "support"? If you guessed "Microsoft Internet Explorer," you get the prize.
   technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

What makes ISPs think they can tell you what software to use?


Feb. 20, 2000

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, The Syracuse Newspapers

   Suppose you bought a new car and found out the car dealer only "supported" Mobil gasoline? That would be strange, right? How do you "support" gasoline? You just pump it into the tank and go.
   Now to the real world. You sign up with an Internet provider and discover that it does not "support" Netscape. Or you're told it does not "support" Linux.
   Notice that I am enclosing that word "support" in quotation marks. Your car dealer doesn't have to "support" a brand of gasoline. And your Internet Service provider doesn't have to "support" a particular kind of browser or a specific operating system. Common sense tells you that.
   Maybe I'm just blowing off steam. But I do think something needs to be said about this charade.
   Companies that make cars do care about how you treat the car. They don't want you to use bad gas. They don't want you to start bad-mouthing them just because your car stalled on the expressway. That makes sense.
   But companies that make Internet connections don't care how you treat your computer. They don't care if you bang on the keyboard or kick the tower or leave the monitor on all day while you're at work. They have better things to do. They'd rather spend their time providing good connections to the Internet.
   Why, then, do ISPs tell their customers that they don't "support" one kind of operating system? Why do they say they don't "support" one kind of browser? What business is it of theirs what kind of software you run on your computer?
   None, of course. And that brings us to the real issue here.
   ISPs get headaches trying to help people who have problems. If everybody had the same software, many of those headaches would go away. Fix one problem and you fix them all. No need to learn a dozen ways of doing things, two dozen ways of fixing things.
   That's the ideal world Internet Service Providers want to live in.
   Ideal worlds are great. Ideally, I'd like everyone who reads this to send me $50. Ideally, I'd like the world to be a better place.
   But no one is going to send me $50. Nobody is going to be nice to Internet Service Providers just because ISPs would like that to happen.
   Then why do the people who run ISPs tell us what they "support"? Do they think they can control what software you and I are using?
   Something's not right here. What is it that typical ISPs "support"?
   If you guessed "Microsoft Internet Explorer," you win the prize. If you guessed "Microsoft Outlook Express," you'd be right again. Those two programs are what ISPs "support." By the scores. By the hundreds. ISPs climb all over themselves to tell us they support those two Microsoft programs.
   And nothing else. No other browser. No other mail program.
   Doesn't this sound fishy to you?
   What about operating systems? Some folks think there's just Windows, but that's not true at all. There's the Apple Macintosh. There's Linux. Macs are all over the place and are getting more popular every day. Linux is hailed as the operating system of the future. There are 20 million Linux users already. Maybe more. And there are other operating systems.
   But ISPs act like there's only one, and it comes from Microsoft. Or only one and a half, if you count the spotty support many ISPs give to Macs.
   "Hello, Harry. How's your new car going? This is Marty, the guy who sold you your new sedan. Say, we've checked the records of the local gas stations and noticed you've been putting Texaco gasoline in your new car. Just wanted to remind you that we do not support Texaco, Harry. No Texaco, no way. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. If you have a problem and we find out you're running Texaco, you might as well have bought a Model T, Harry. We won't let you into the shop. You got that?"
   How long would we put up with this?
   You don't need me to tell you that you can use any browser or e-mail software you want with your ISP connection. Your conscience can tell you better than I can. Just install the mail program YOU want to use. Install the Web browser YOU want.
   Your conscience will do an equally good job when you're wondering if you're free to use something besides Windows to connect to the Internet, too. Nobody has yet appointed Microsoft to be God. If your ISP doesn't know that yet, be patient. The computer industry's own projections say Linux will be the No. 1 computer operating system by 2003. Microsoft doesn't own Linux. Microsoft can't buy it. Microsoft can't compete with it the old way.
   And the old way, the way that doesn't work, is to get everybody in the world to think the only software worth "supporting" comes from Microsoft.
   Think about it. Something just isn't right.