In <a04310100b5696e17666a@[207.111.242.204]>, on 06/11/00
at 10:44 AM, Tim May <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
>>
>>-- Use it's monopoly with hardware vendors to prevent competition's
>>product from being pre-installed on new equipment.
>Oh? You mean that if Tim's Computer Company buys some motherboards and
>power supplies and processors and such that his company is "prevented"
>from selling Linux or Plan 9 or whatever on it? How does Microsoft
>enforce this--guns?
And you are completely missing the dynamics of the market. Gateway sells
only M$ software or on the next release M$ software doesn't run properly
on Gateway machines. Exactly how long would a Gateway or a Dell stay in
business if M$ software didn't run on their machines? What at first
started out as a mutually favorable arrangement for both parties is now
nothing more than a M$ extortion racket.
As far as the quip about enforcing with guns, M$ is not beyond the threat
of force to bully those who challenge them. While M$ does not have their
own standing army with guns they have a very active "army" of lawyers who
have the power to drag you through the court system at considerable cost
(and there is a standing army to back up any of their rulings). Tim likes
to present BillyG as the virtuous capitalist fighting the evil forces of
government while ignoring the fact the he is one of the biggest supporters
of government intervention and regulation when it is favorable to M$.
--
---------------------------------------------------------------
William H. Geiger III http://www.openpgp.net
Geiger Consulting
Data Security & Cryptology Consulting
Programming, Networking, Analysis
PGP for OS/2: http://www.openpgp.net/pgp.html
E-Secure: http://www.openpgp.net/esecure.html
---------------------------------------------------------------
