Okay, then we'll just revoke all of Microsoft's patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Happy now? The breakup seems less radical to me, but have it your way. On Wed, 26 Apr 2000, Matthew Gaylor wrote: > Breaking up Microsoft and good sense > Scripps Howard News Service > An editorial / Jay Ambrose > Scripps Howard News Service > > The government, it seems, is not going to be happy with some more > or less reasonable intervention in its antitrust case against > Microsoft, but wants instead to do something radical, something > major, something that will show this upstart company just who is who > in the American economy. > > As the penalty for Microsoft's huge success, the Justice > Department is telling the press that it will propose breaking the > company into two parts _ one firm producing a computer operating > system and another producing software business applications. > Industrious reporters have even found some business professors who > say this is a great idea that should bring about marvelous results. > > Sorry, business professors, but you just don't know, and neither > does the government. There are two basic reasons for having a free > enterprise economic system. One is that liberty is an end itself, and > much to be prized. The other is that the marketplace, over time, > rewards industriousness, intelligence, efficiency and innovation, > producing bounty that no centralized planning can produce. The reason > is that planners _ whether in business schools or government _ cannot > possibly gather and assess all the data necessary for wise intrusion, > such as possible consumer preferences. > > If Microsoft had really thwarted marketplace determinations by > illegally conking its competitors on their noggins, as a judge has > ruled, you might be able to justify a drastic action, but the way > some of those competitors are thriving tells a different tale. > Microsoft was aggressive. It sought every advantage it could find. In > a dynamic, instantly changing industry, it secured some footholds > that enabled it to climb to the heights at least for a spell, but it > did not cheat consumers and it did not come close to disabling those > clear-eyed competitors aspiring to the same commercial achievements > themselves. > > The government, on the other hand, apparently hopes to do to > Microsoft worse than Microsoft did to others. This is not a moment of > glory for the Clinton administration. > > SHNS > > AP-NY-04-25-00 1426EDT > > ************************************************************************** > Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues > Send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words subscribe FA > on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per month) > Matthew Gaylor,1933 E. Dublin-Granville Rd., PMB 176, Columbus, OH 43229 > Archived at http://www.egroups.com/list/fa/ > ************************************************************************** >
