What shell we do with the Microsoft.....

[Craig White]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of Mark R.
> Myers
> Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 9:02 PM
> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> Subject: Re: What shell we do with the Microsoft.....
>
>
> My vote is to do nothing and leave Microsoft alone.
> No one put a gun to anyone's head and said that they had to purchase a
> Microsoft product.
> No tobacco company got someone addicted to nicotine against their will.
> With the AOL/Time Warner merger, it will make them a much larger company
> than Microsoft and should provide some formidable competition.
> I like free software, but more importantly, I love free enterprise.
> I say, let the buying public decide, not a judge.
> There were no lawsuits by Sony when the VHS format (invented by JVC) beat
> out Betamax, even though Betamax was a better product.
> I say, let the market decide. Let the people decide.
> There are some Microsoft products that I do like.
> Microsoft gave me a free copy of Windows2000 Professional (see, they are
> getting into free software! :-)  )
> IMHO, it is the best OS that they have put out yet.
> But again, let the people decide.
> I DO NOT like Microsoft's businesses practices. I think Bill
> Gates' parents
> never taught him how to "play nice."
> But there are other companies that I don't like their business practices
> too.
> I purchased SuSE 6.3 (I will give all of the disks away free to anyone who
> wants them).
> For some reason, I could not get it to print.
> I never had that problem with any other brand of Linux.
> When I contacted customer service via e-mail concerning the issue, as a
> registered SuSE users, I was informed that basic customer service did not
> include the ability to make your computer able to print.
> I am sorry, but I think that printing is one of the main reasons PCs took
> off in the first place. I consider printing to be a "basic need" of an
> operating system.
> So I disagree. I think Microsoft should be scolded for predatory business
> practices, and that is that. Let the buyers decided.
> I guess I'm just too much a disciple of Milton Freedman economics.
> Mark
>
-----
Your analogy of dealings with SuSE are interesting but have nothing to do
with the Microsoft issue.

The problem with Microsoft (and the other predators of industry since the
industrial revolution that began after the civil war) is that they used
their position in the industry to wipe out their competitors - Netscape
couldn't compete in the browser category because their competition not only
gave the product away for free...they bundled it into and made their freebee
part and parcel of the operating system. They restrained trade by bullying
the computer manufacturers from pre-installing Netscape by pulling the
license to sell computers with the Windows OS.

This was on the heels of the previous settlement that Microsoft had with the
justice department when Microsoft withheld key details of the Windows 95 OS
so that only Microsoft had the application software that utilized the new
features - setting all other competitors behind from 6 months to a year.

I will refrain from inferences or conclusions. I simply don't agree with the
concept of non-interference and letting the market decide.

Craig
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