Defining "PC" categories -- was Walmart PC's are gone

[Craig White]

On Fri, 2007-11-16 at 09:50 -0600, Josef Lowder wrote:
> .
> On Fri, 16 Nov 2007, keith smith wrote 
> > I'm not aware of MicroSoft giving away anything. 
> > Can you provide an example? 
> 
> 
> Oh, and leave us not forget that Bill Gates, the great 
> philanthropist, has personally given away some percentage 
> of the gargantuan fortune that he has amassed. 
> 
> Let's see, if my calculations are right, I believe that 
> the proportion of his total beneficence would amount to 
> approximately the equivalence of a family with an annual 
> income of $50,000 giving almost $20.00 per year in total 
> charitable giving. 
----
the sarcasm really begs the entire issue as I'm quite certain that Keith
was asking a sincere question.

The issue of Microsoft 'giving away' something has been documented many,
many times. For years, they have subsidized substantial losses on
products such as their XBox just to obtain dominant market share, or
even worse, gave away software such as Internet Explorer when Netscape
dominated the market and was selling for $29

Under previous administrations, this type of practice would have brought
substantial legal scrutiny and probably anti-trust, anti-competitive
litigation from various governmental agencies.

The framework of this was largely created by the 'Sherman' act - which
Alan Greenspan dismissed and the current administration has picked up
that mantle which is why we have absurd marketing issues such as not
being able to purchase a computer without a copy of Microsoft Windows on
it, idiocy such as the DMCA, etc.

So in the areas where Microsoft is dominating the market, the price of
their software, though fully mature and without any apparent
justification, versions of Windows and Office keep rising in price and
in areas where the lack in market share and seek dominance, they either
substantially subsidize their losses or just give software away (i.e.
Internet Explorer to 'suck the oxygen' from Netscape).

Craig