I probably shouldn't do this, but how can I resist.
<rant>
Microsoft is evil, and they should be destroyed. (Steel Magnolias
Reference).
The trouble that I have with Micro$oft, not to claim they have any kind of
lock on this behavior, is that they consistently use their size and
anti-competitive practices to accelerate their success and maintain their
dominance. More specifically, their success and market dominance is based
primarily on manipulation, theft (everybody's a little guilty of this), and
maneuvering in and leveraging of the marketplace. Where their success is NOT
based is on the quality of their products.
They have been shown to:
* Negotiate unfair / exclusive relationships with OEMs by withdrawing
extraordinary discounts if the OEM chooses to offer a competing product.
* Create mandatory (defacto) upgrades to their operating system and other
software for the purpose of making it incompatible with competing products.
* Abuse licenses for competing technologies to manipulate industry standards
by leveraging their incredibly large market share.
* Release incomplete products, or announce new products years in advance of
actual delivery in order to soften or forestall the acceptance of competing
technologies in the market place.
* Create mandatory (defacto) upgrades to their operating system software for
the sole purpose of restricting it's capabilities so that they could protect
the market of their more highly priced (and nearly identical) server
software... oh heck. Let's just say it. This one's well documented. The only
difference between NT workstation and NT server a while ago was the price...
Once folks began taking advantage of the capabilities of NT WS (particularly
for use on the 'web), a new service pack comes out, followed by a new
version, which includes a few special differences amounting to less than one
page of source code. The sole purpose of that code difference between the
two platforms was to insure that the Workstation version couldn't be
effectively used as a server so that they could protect their market for the
server product at 4 to 5 times the price. This has _NOTHING_ to do with the
quality of the product (as they claimed in defense) and _EVERYTHING_ to do
with gouging the market because they had the ability to get away with it.
>From the perspective of a ruthless capitalist, there is much to be admired
at Microsoft. The have, and continue to consistently extract tremendous
profits from their chosen market segment and to out compete all comers in
areas where their core competencies lie.
The do not, by any stretch of the imagination, create new products which
have a consistently higher quality than their competitors. What they have
that's great, they stole, or purchased... sometimes gobbling up entire
competing companies leaving a wasteland in their wake.
What I resent, and feel should be stopped, is that they have destroyed the
best aspects of capitalism and the free market through artful manipulation
to wit: the majority of IT shops purchase microsoft products because there
is no other viable alternative, out of fear, or out of apathy rather than
selecting it because it is the best product based on it's merits. This
perpetuates the same market conditions.
I could release a new product that would revolutionize the industry, and on
an even playing field, my company would be vaulted to the top of the
market... that is, of course, until M$ decides to release their plans to
produce essentially the same product, and then quietly offers my development
staff two or three times what I can afford to go work for them, and then
makes some minor modifications to their OS in the next service pack at which
point my software somehow begins to crash, etc... etc...
As a result of their sheer dominance in the marketplace and their ability to
bludgeon any smaller competitors into submission or nonexistence, and
because they have laid waste, in one way or another, to the vast majority of
competing products, realistic IT professionals who want to continue to put a
roof over their heads have to think much more than twice about recommending
anything other than a microsoft product. This also perpetuates Microsoft's
dominance.
For those IT pros who would stick to their guns and make the best call ...
often they have to (as we have in many cases) choose Microsoft because it
has already been selected for them... that is, the entire administrative
component of their company or client, not to mention the employment market
at large is saturated with people who only know Microsoft products... As a
result, any presentation containing an alternative choice must be
accompanied with an explanation (more like a defense) for why the Microsoft
product wasn't selected.
This has occurred not because competing products were technically inferior
in any way, but because the companies supporting their development were
unable to withstand the financial punishment of a playing field highly
skewed in Microsoft's favor.
OK, so life's not fair and these "Network Effects" are not the exclusive
property of MS... but isn't it our purpose to try and improve things?
Shouldn't it be possible, or even desirable for new companies with better
technology to not only compete successfully in the market place, but also to
attain some measure of success? Isn't it unacceptable to allow one company
to so dominate the industry that no reasonable competitors can hope to
survive - even if their products are superior? I think it's unreasonable.
I applaud the Linux movement and open source software in general... sure
there's a lot of sward rattling that goes on, but that's not what counts...
when it comes down to it, these guys aren't focused on killing Microsoft as
much as they are on improving their craft and their product. No matter where
you sit, better products and better technologies are good for everybody. I'm
glad somebody's doing something about it.
</rant>
-Pete
----- Original Message -----
From: Vaughn Thurman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 1999 1:52 PM
Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] RE:off-topic: Microsoft not violating copyright;
Netscape troubles
> Wow what an interesting thread this has become!
>
> The inside opinions are great. I am really glad to see we have so many
> capitalists here debating this point. Microsoft is big. Microsoft is
> strong. Microsoft is tough to compete with, but does that make them evil?
> Netscape, Sun, and AOL have all faced them and lost because of their high
> prices, bad practices, poor marketing, or even design flaws. Now they
think
> that Microsoft should be tied up and have it's head chopped off. This is
> tatamount to "He is bigger and faster than the other kids because he works
> out all of the time and runs laps every day, he should have to play
football
> on his knees and with no helmet! My kid has a right to eat potato chips
and
> lay on the couch and still win football games!". (My son won't be going
to
> that school of thought!) Do talented football players create all of the
> moves they do? No. They improve on, and/or execute more efficiently, age
> old moves and win games as a result. Maybe we should make the Yankees
start
> wearing high heels...
>
> I would love to see another company give MS a run for thier money, but not
> in court! I do not want to be stuck buying the software that lawyers have
> crafted! I also don't want people who think lawyers are party of the
> development process building the next generation OS!
>
> Anyone who waits for the government to bring him his future has not paid
> attention to the government's results in the past!
>
> As soon as IMAIL runs on Linux I will buy it. I love Linux and use it
> everyday in many server roles, but why would the average user want to use
> it? It takes 10 times as long to figure out how to do anything and there
is
> a shortage of knowledge/support available yet. That could all change if
> they just do exactly what MS has been doing. Improve, Improve, Improve!
So
> far I see Sun, Netscape and AOL saying they improved upon our ideas! They
> must be stopped so that our rough and poorly built stuff stays on top!
> Please cut me a break! Get back to building better mousetraps and the
world
> will beat your door down. Our industry is new but that age old saying
still
> holds true!
>
> </rant off>
> -V
>
> Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html
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>
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