Re: uninstallation

[Mitch Stone <mstone@vc.net>]

In reply to Christopher Pall's message sent 1/26/98 8:11 PM:

>I'm saying that opening the OS to standardization - while it might leave 
>the OS
>monopoly in tact, it will open up portion of it to competition. I want to
>encourage competition in the realm of Disk Caching, compression, 3d 
>libraries, I
>don't want to hand all of these standards over to a company that will 
>"integrate"
>these clearly modular aspects of an operating system in such a way that 
>only one
>company can compete.

No, of course not. I agree. 

Bill Gates seems to be very fond of the car radio analogy (why does it 
always seem to come back to cars?). He contends that Microsoft deciding 
to integrate a web browser into the OS is no different then GM including 
a radio as standard equipment with its cars. And he would be _correct_ in 
relying on this analogy, were the OS market as competitive as the auto 
industry. The decision of GM to include a radio as standard equipment 
does not create a barrier to competition because it does not choose 
instant winners and instant losers in the car radio market -- the other 
auto manufacturers can still choose other suppliers of car radios. At 
least in theory, and probably in practice, competition is not 
short-circuited.

>Now if we solve the problem in the way that you are suggesting, ONLY by 
>boycotting
>(I agree with boycotting, just that it isn't the only solution) then we 
>will end
>up with Apple leading the monopoly race. If we only look at market percetages
>we're missing the bigger picture IMHO.

Certainly, I agree insofar as the boycott question is concerned. I don't 
envision it as a blanket solution. Otherwise, I can't see any support for 
the contention that purchasing from one of Microsoft's few, remaining 
competitors can be in any way, shape or form a bad thing. Back to the 
cars: if GM operated a virtual monopoly in the auto market, but I could 
still buy a Honda, and I perhaps even preferred the Honda, then I'd be a 
damn fool to buy the GM car, don't you think?

This is not a binary question. It is not a matter of choosing one 
monopoly over another. I advocate a high technology market at least as 
diverse as the auto industry, one that offers at least that degree of 
variety and consumer choice. And I spend my money that way. Idealistic 
perhaps, but given that every _other_ market works this way, I have to 
imagine it's an attainable goal, provided of course we don't collectively 
throw in the towel. Regrettably, that's some of what I see happening here.

   Mitch Stone
   Editor, Boycott Microsoft
   http://www.vcnet.com/bms 
 +---
   When you find yourself on the side of the majority, 
   it is time to reform. --- Mark Twain