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Subject: 
Re: Bill Gates' real crime...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Fri, 5 May 2000 17:49:12 GMT
Viewed: 
217 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Frank Filz writes:
Bruce Schlickbernd wrote:

It seemed to me a pretty clear-cut case of monopolistic practices. • Investors
big and small should have seen this coming miles away.  Microsoft even got a
previous wake up call, dodged the bullet on penalties, and proceeded to • behave
as arrogantly as humanly possible.  Pride goes before the fall.  Idunno, I • just
can't see this as the Justice Department's fault - Microsoft pretty much had
neon signs flashing "Monpolistic tactics - Watchya gonna do about it?"

While MS may have had some anti-competitive practices, I haven't seen
anything which justifies a breakup. Some thoughts of mine on some of the
issues which have been raised:

- MS billing vendors for a copy of Windows for every machine sold: Do
you know how many vendors have sold computers with Windows installed on
them, but didn't bother to sell a copy of Windows to the customer? When
I bought my first Windows 3.x capable PC, Windows was pre-installed. I
happened to have a legitimate purchase because I also purchased a mouse
which happened to come with a free copy of Windows. At least when I
bought used laptops for myself and my mother, each one came with a
shrink wrapped license agreement (though I am suspicious that whoever
the laptops came from didn't keep track of their licenses, but that's
mostly their problem).

Two wrongs make a right?  And I see lots of systems at my job that have unix,
not windows.

I do think that MS has done some bad things, but I'd like to see
sanctions which specifically targetted those things, rather than a
shotgun approach. Do you want the court telling you what innovations are
appropriate to integrate into an operating system?

--
Frank Filz

-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com

I really don't want to sit and enumerate all of Microsoft's trangressions.
It's a big, sprawling, complex issue but anyone interested can find out
about them in news articles easily enough.  You don't even begin to scratch the
surface is all I'll note here.

Bruce



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Bill Gates' real crime...
 
(...) While MS may have had some anti-competitive practices, I haven't seen anything which justifies a breakup. Some thoughts of mine on some of the issues which have been raised: - MS billing vendors for a copy of Windows for every machine sold: Do (...) (25 years ago, 5-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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