TronDD wrote:
> Then call me crazy because Microsoft is NOT a monopoly. Didn't the judge convict them of having a monopoly, monopolistic practices or some such thing? > I say this to you from my Linux computer. Nothing makes me buy a Microsoft product >and nothing ever will. Good point but that doesn't stop MS from making money on you and that's part of being a monopoly. Compaq says MS had them to pay a royalty on every computer they made _regardless_ of whether it had a MS operating system installed or not. Basically MS told the big guys that, if they wanted to get the OS cheap, they had to pay a certain amount per computer. For Compaq it's cheaper to do that then it is to pay more per computer for only the computers with a MS operating system because most of the computers they ship will have a MS OS. You can bet if someone as big as Compaq was in that position then the little guys were too. But you might note that Dell didn't claim that MS forced them to do anything illegal. It's pretty well a proven fact Michael Dell lied at the senate judiciary committee hearing to help MS out (transcripts at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1997/microsoft/transcripts/hearing/) I wonder what discounts MS gives his company to say "Thanks." During the trial when Mr. Gates was questioned he claimed he doesn't know what his interrogators meant when they used terms such as "concerned," "ask" and "non-Microsoft browser." The 1990's, when the richest man in the world didn't know what the word "ask" meant and the president of the country didn't know what "sex" was. And they say the sixties was a crazy decade? :) > You people seem to forget that the consumer is the botom line. If a company does >something out of line, don't buy from them. Seek an alternative or make one. That sounds good in theory but it doesn't hold up to real world experience. For example, for less popular cars than the Chevelles there may only be one company producing replacement panels. They don't sweat quality because their existence in a small market keeps others from entering it. You buy the panels and then pay the body shop a bunch extra to have them made to fit. Yet if you talk to another manufacturer they say "There's already a company making those panels." > No one owes you a cheap way to restore a car YOU chose to have. If it becomes too >expensive, then don't do it. Then GM looses. GM wasn't making money off these parts before so if they convince the makers to pay them a dollar per part and they only sell 10 parts it's $10 more profit for GM. One of the problems with big companies with lots of lawyers on retainers, they figure they might as well be using them :0 But don't get me wrong, maybe GM's participation will really force the quality to go up, that would be great. I've just heard the other side where a guy was trying to reproduce a rare Oldsmobile part and GM basically forced him to drop it. -- "The president doesn't know what sex is and they claim knowledge is power?" http://www.ucalgary.ca/~csimpson/TheOldsZone.html ----------------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe please visit www.chevelles.net/list.html To start a new topic, send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
