Obviously I gave a little cheer when Judge Thomas Jackson ruled that Microsoft used monopoly power to stomp on the developments of rival companies to the detriment of consumers in the long-running Microsoft case.

I've always believed that the Microsoft operating system was designed to cause consumers as much grief as possible and to make it bloody difficult to sort out yourself - it's no wonder that most people think of themselves as technologically incompetent.

I've also been equally in the camp that its long-time rival, Apple, has a much more user-friendly operating system and that you have to treat it pretty roughly to cause it to die. But - like the advent of low-cost airlines - Microsoft made the cost of basic computers cheap and it meant that lots more people could afford to use them. Apple was, and still is, expensive by comparison, even allowing for the enthusiasm generated by the iMac and the iBook.

My Mac has seen years of devoted service but it's time for me to change and I've been comparing the cost of Apple and Windows-based computers.

The bottom line is that I can get a bog-standard, grey-and-boring computer with a scanner and a printer and a bundle of irritating Microsoft programs for the same price as an aesthetically pleasing, space saving iMac. Which doesn't even have a floppy-disk drive, this being designated as passe by the Steve Jobs brigade.

That didn't bother me unduly until I was told that my zip drive wouldn't work with it either - obsolete at two years old! There's also a thing about memory. Each upgrade in memory costs a couple of hundred quid, but the saleswoman I spoke to told me that this was because some factory in Taiwan had closed down or been damaged in a riot or something and that memory was about three times as expensive as it should be.

She reckoned that in a couple of months it would be cheaper again and so I should buy the model with the least memory now and upgrade it later. This presupposes, of course, that I will be able to upgrade it later and that it hasn't actually been replaced with something that has made it obsolete - again.

I feel like someone in a car showroom . . . the basic Skoda has everything I could possibly want and lots more besides - but it's still a Skoda and it has all the style of - well, a Skoda. Meanwhile, the basic Merc is very stylish and built to last, but absolutely everything is extra.

It's been interesting to watch Bill Gates as he moves into aggressive defence mode getting caught up in the tautology of promising "new innovations" to help the consumer.

I can understand his lack of enthusiasm for having his company broken up, but it's becoming more likely by the day and analysts are beginning to feel that this may well be the best solution in the long run.

Apple never managed to lose its small company mentality and that cost it dearly. Microsoft is struggling for exactly the opposite reason and it's hard for Bill to accept that not everyone believes that once it's business you can do what you like to wipe out the opposition.

Meantime, Microsoft's share price - down around $10 (€9.70) from its summer highs - continues to reflect the market's uncertainty with developments, but it's worth keeping in mind that (in any guise) they still dominate a lot of the market and a lot of the business in technology. Apple, at $89.50 are off their highs too, but not as much. Blueberry, tangerine and lime computers are still the way forward for Apple.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has been explaining it's own business in its recent bulletin, saying that it doesn't want to use interest rates as a tool for short-term economic management.

This should, of course, be on page two of the Ladybird book of economic management but - given the way that the markets are hanging on every word of the financial authorities these days - I suppose the ECB felt it necessary to state the obvious. Or what should be the obvious - the Monetary Policy Committee in London seems to use interest rates as a "first resort" option which is why everyone watches its meetings so intently. Mind you, they're still not speaking to each other at the MPC as the row about researchers rumbles on. And, even when it's finally resolved, the disaffection will linger for ages. Not that this should affect their decision making, we're talking about grown adults here. Aren't we?

The market reacted in a pretty mature way to the ECB's hike as most participants happily decided that the central bank hadn't embarked on a series of tightening moves but had simply moved pre-emptively to curtail inflationary pressures.

It certainly seems that the authorities see any spark of growth in Europe as being of potentially unstoppable inflationary risk, although it's worth remembering that, even though the German jobless total fell in October, unemployment there is running at 10.5 per cent.

Perhaps, given the free movement of labour that's allowed in the EC, the unemployed Germans would like to come to Ireland for a few months and work as taxi drivers. As we approach the taxi silly-season again, I'm sure that even the drivers themselves couldn't object to a few more cabs on the road . . . and the Germans could bring their lovely clean Mercs and BMWs along with them to help us out.

I know that there are more pressing things to worry about in the whole panoply of taxi-driving in Dublin than the actual state of the taxis themselves, but I really wish that the cabs were standardised. London is great - brilliant cabs, lots of space and comfortable seats.

Last week, I was in an Irish taxi with a broken spring in the back seat and an overpowering smell of that revolting pine-tree air-freshener that they all hang out of the driver's mirror.

The thing is, when I'm getting a taxi I'm usually wearing my glad-rags or a decent suit. I like to think that they won't be ruined by the seat of the taxi, or smell like I've been in a synthetic scents factory for weeks. But I suppose I should just be grateful to get one at all.

Footnote: After everything I said about my Mac, the bloody thing crashed as I saved this week's piece. Retrievable fortunately, but I'm currently eating my words. The jury's still out on the blueberry and tangerine!

Sheila O'Flanagan is a fixed- income specialist at NCB Stockbrokers