Microsoft was probably one of the earliest to see the value of this way of competing when it developed its operating system to be compatible for just about any make of personal computer.
The final myth is the one that leads to the most pronounced false sense of security - that my make of computer or operating system is not vulnerable to security problems.
This year, Bishop Graphics is trying to sell another make of computers and software to circuit board designers.
How much use do they make of computers?
Instead of flesh and blood, Jack is made of computer code and lives in a virtual world inside a video monitor.
Much has been made of computer science "returnees," most notably Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, who left Princeton to create an institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing that has already made breakthroughs in game theory and computer security.
"We think this is his only finished work," he says, separating the cans to reveal a long scroll made of computer paper taped end to end.
I.B.M. PC RECYCLING SERVICE www.ibm.com/ibm/environment -- For $29.95, consumers can ship any make or model of computer via U.P.S. to a recycling center.
Other World Computing comes out with one today, the NASPerform, that works with any network (it has to be physically connected to a router, though) and with any make and model of computer.
Studies of pattern formation make use of computer models to simulate a wide range of patterns.
Most importantly, the experience accumulated during this study has highlighted the importance of structure preserving design in the construction of systems that make use of computer interpretable guidelines.
