Part C

Impact of the Issue on Society

There are many advantages that are available when advertisements are being able to go onto and into places where they have never gone before. The ability to be a retailer and being able to sell your company's commodities online, and on a Windows 7 theme no less, is almost unbelievable and back in the day, impossible. "The new Windows Theme Experience and Windows Personalization Gallery in Windows 7 allow consumers to customize their technology to reflect the things in life they are most passionate about," said Darren Huston again in his press conference held to discuss the new technological advances that Microsoft had pioneered (Keizer, 2009). Also, another key advantage to being able to use advertisements on Windows 7 themes is that the many users of PC products will now have the luxory of being able to order goods straight from their desktop which allows for less money to be wasted on travel as well as less time lost (Hachman, 2009). Many believe that this pilot program is going to be a great thing that Microsoft has produced for Windows 7 compatible computers. The abilities to be a retailer and create advertisements online, to be a consumer and now buy major retailer's goods straight from your desktop, is a feat in itself. However, with all the advantages, one may overlook the possible disadvantages of using this pilot program.

There are many small businesses who believe that their retail stores are being endangered by this technological advance that Microsoft has recently created. Mant believe that with the major retailers having the ability to advertise their items online, that makes their profit come in double and make their franchise ever larger than it was before, thus leaving the smaller retailers out of the picture. From Technology Business Research, a man named Allan Kranes stated that, "They're seeking every way to add all incremental income" (Keizer, 2009). The whole idea behind this concept is to max out the possible revenue that Microsoft could potentially make. Also, there are many people that would not take nicely to the idea of having their desktop run by ads because they are tired of seeing them all over the internet, never mind right in their face when they turn their computer monitor on. Krans also added, "I don't think a sizable portion of users will bother" (Keizer, 2009). This contradicts what many other Microsoft technological staff have said and thus further promotes the idea that this pilot program may or may not be the best thing that Microsoft has done with Windows 7.