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Halo's Effect: The biggest threat to the dominance of Microsoft Windows on the desktop may also be coming out of Redmond, Washington; from a little company called Microsoft.

As Windows began to gain control of desktop computing around version 3.1 (or 3.11, to be more precise), a long-running question was spun up, "Who could possibly take away that market control?" That spinning top of a question is still going 'round today. But there are a few more wobbles these days, and one competitor, of a sort, may be causing more imbalance than others: Microsoft's own Xbox. Apple's OSX has increased its market share as has Linux, but none of them may be quite as dangerous to the Windows juggernaut as the company's own video game console.

One of the primary barbs tossed back and forth between Windows' consumer users and users of other platforms has had to do with games. Windows had 'em, no one else really did. While it's true that the increased popularity of OSX has led some game houses back to developing for the Mac, and a few houses went further and created Linux versions, this trickle of titles is nothing compared with the flood of games one finds at your average Best Buy or CompUSA. Even that bastion of gaming market share, the Sony PS2, couldn't shake Windows' steely grip on gaming. Especially when you're talking online gaming and high-end 3-D graphics. With new cards on the market every other day, or so it seemed, Windows was still the hard-core gamer's nirvana, and they were happy to be there. A never-ending battle with viruses, adware, spyware and other malware couldn't sway them. If it couldn't run 'Everquest' or 'Battlefield 1942' or the like, it didn't matter how friendly and stable it was.

And then came the Xbox. And everyone was talking about 'Halo'.

I'll freely admit that I was skeptical of the Xbox. I rolled my eyes and said, "That's all we need, the Blue Screen of Death on our gaming consoles". It was, after all, a PC at heart. But the platform, and more to the point the Microsoft Xbox division, has proven me and other nay-sayers wrong. It has sold consistently well and satisfaction amongst owners is quite high. There have been stumbles here and there, but any new gaming platform needs to find its legs. And, it can't be stressed enough, 'Halo: Combat Evolved' was the "kick ass" hit that the platform needed to send sales over the top. Drop a beige box gamer in front of an Xbox running 'Halo' and you'd have to pry the controller back from them. Add to that

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