On 5/5/05, Tracy R Reed <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Uh...Doesn't the fact that people had to give away > technically superior products and services FOR FREE > (Linux, Google, Firefox) in order to compete demonstrate > that Microsoft was indeed a monopoly?
No. As geeks, it's natural to focus on technical merit, but we also both know that technical merit isn't the only axis by which to measure a product in the marketplace. Nor should it be. There are things like convenience, price, familiarity, and friend's opinions, for example. If somebody would rather use a Microsoft program than a technically superior one, who are you to say they're being coerced into it? If it took technical merit *plus* an unbeatable price to get people to switch, by what right can you tell those people that their decision isn't theirs, it's actually Microsoft manipulating them. And finally, doesn't the fact that those three programs were able to compete demonstrate that Microsoft isn't a monopoly? The makers of Firefox can't expect to release what they consider a technically superior product, and then have market share handed to them on a silver platter. They have to compete for it. And if takes price as well as technical merit to earn it, then so be it. > I bet if someone could have given away gasoline for free > they could have broken Standard Oil's monopoly without > government intervention. I bet if someone could have > given away telephones and phone service for free they > could have stopped AT&T without government > intervention. Does this show that they also were not > monopolies? I think MS was quite justly prosecuted. > What was unjust was the government giving up on the > case and letting them off easy. Unjust to us, the citizens > who have to put up with Microsofts business practices. I found an interesting article about this whole subject, dated November 2001. Antitrust's Greatest Hits http://reason.com/0111/fe.dk.antitrusts.shtml It tackles some of the myths surrounding anti-trust regulation, covering Standard Oil, Alcoa, AT&T, and Microsoft. -todd -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
