I guess it has to happen, even to the best of us. But why Tex Murphy?

Imagine my dismay when I learned last week of my favorite cybersleuth's abduction by Uncle Bill and the boys from Redmond. That's right, Tex Murphy and all of the other Access Software creations we've come to know and love will be wearing the Microsoft brand.

Woe is me!

Access and Tex have been around since the early days of PCs. Some of you may be familiar with the Links series of Golf simulators, the latest being Links LS 1999, which have always been at the top of the heap in realism and graphics. In fact, the original Microsoft Golf was developed for Uncle Bill by the folks at Access.

Then came Under a Killing Moon and Tex Murphy Overseer, which brought new innovations in multimedia to PC games, making them more like interactive movies than hunt-and-fetch video games.

Access always made it a point to release only two or three games a year, investing tons of dollars in development and production. I hope this won't change!

Actually, this is but one in a series of acquisitions within the past year that are making the software giants bigger. Electronic Arts has swallowed up smaller rivals, including Maxis Software (SimCity), Westwood Games (Command & Conquer) and Origin (Wing Commander). And Sierra Online beefed up its catalogue by acquiring Berkeley (After Dark), and Blizzard Software (Star Siege).

But let's face it, all fingers will be pointed at Microsoft to show how it unfairly uses its industry dominance to acquire rivals and gain control of PCs everywhere.

Meanwhile, the government's antitrust case against Microsoft drags on, no longer making headlines, even in the computer press. In fact, I think everyone is becoming a bit fed up with the continual finger-pointing that has been going on since this time-waster began back in September, especially since the major finger-pointers have been doing some big-time merging of their own.

The America Online-Netscape merger and their alliance with Sun Microsystems has produced the most dominant force in online computing. And its tentacles continue to spread with overtures toward other online services such as eBay, the predominant auction site on the net.

X...X...X

I warned them! Several months ago I told the boys from Redmond to watch their backs because Linux was coming on strong.

Now we anxiously anticipate Redhat Software's release of Linux 6.

Empowered with infusions of cash from computer and software giants such as Sun and Oracle, Redhat is making its move to capture the souls of Windows users by making the Linux operating system easier to install and use, getting it out of the realm of computer geekdom and onto the PCs of the common man.

Unfortunately, along with this comes heavy commercialization. I fear the original freeware concept of Linus Torvalds will become a mere memory as we begin to see Linux applications hit store shelves.

Corel and Oracle are already selling Linux versions of some of their software, most notably WordPerfect 8 and Oracle 8, and others are on their way. Game developers are beginning to see Linux as a way to shore up their bottom line.

Don't get me wrong. I've always been a big advocate of Linux. But that was when it was the computer geek's alternative to Windows and everything was free. Even the Linux source code.

Now, I fear, those days are coming to an end as commercialism and the lure of big bucks rear their ugly heads.