You wrote:
so your point, basically, is that the public will settle for whatever it can get, and get easiest and cheapest, when it comes to software and operating systems in particular.
I think you've grasped the fundementals! You'll soon make VP of Marketing. <g>
This may be the case, but there is certainly a growing market for internet-capable systems, and the most internet-friendly OS around is, of course, UNIX.
OS/2 comes internet-ready and pre-installed and it's still an almost complete failure in the market.
In that fact, and in the growing importance of having an OS that utilizes the full capabilities of increasing powerful personal computers, lies the future of UNIX.
In any mature market, technical superiority above some baseline level of sufficiency has no market value. The auto market is a classic example of this. Look how long tail-fins and chrome have dominated technical superiority as the prime focus of marketing. These are all marketing issues not technical issues! Dale H.