>>5
I don't use any Microsoft software, so it's not a total monopoly, but you are right that it's hard to avoid for some people. Note that copyright law, a government-granted monopoly, prevents competitors from reverse-engineering Windows to modify it and create improved versions, and that many government agencies -- in the U.S. and abroad -- publish in, or require documents submitted in, proprietary Microsoft formats.

>>7
Well, the obvious response to that is the more essential something is, the more you need alternatives, lest your sole provider fuck it up. Health care is troublesome, though, because the whole "market economy" thing depends on people acting rationally. If you got hit by a car and your brain's bleeding, you can't exactly make an informed decision which ER to go to.

This is a serious problem, I think. Neither public nor private health care appeals to me as it is. I've heard horror stories about both.