>>>"David Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 10/25/05 9:44 am >>> % %"Peter T. Breuer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message %news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] % %>> Essentially, Microsoft asked for exclusive arrangements. That is, %>>arrangements wherein you could not sell competing products if you wished %>>to %>>sell Microsoft products. That's not even remotely unusual. % %>It soitenly is, stanley. In case you hadn't noticed, the shops sell %>more than one kind of washing powder. % % Your argument is nonsensical. Because you can find one category of goods %that don't have the property I'm talking about it follows that the property %is unusual?! % % Operating systems are not like washing powder at all. Try to sell both %Big Macs and Whoppers in one store. Heck, try to sell Craftsman tools %without being a Sears. Microsoft gets to decide whether they sell their %operating systems software like washing powder or like burgers, not you. % The thing it, that under certain circumstances, defined by law, it becomes illegal to ask for exclusive arrangements. One of these is if you have a monopoly. Another is the way the Mob asks for "protection money". IANAL, so I don't know the exact wording, but sometime in the past the USA representative bodies/government decided that under certain conditions it is illegal. (and others like my own country) The in the 2000-2004 lawsuit it was proven that these conditions applied to MS. It happened before (Standard oil, American Tobacco Company, AT&T).
I'm unsure if your point is that antitrust laws should not exist, or that they should not apply to MS. If you think those laws should not exist, I suggest you investigate why they were created, and maybe write your representative in your government to change this. If you think they should not apply to MS, but you in general agree with them, then I think you should investigate why the laws were found to apply to MS. Interesting information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitrust -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
