Re: Definition of predatory pricing for airlines applicable to

["Norm" <normanmo@clark.net>]

On Tue, 7 Apr 1998 18:47:22 -0400 (EDT), Brett Glass wrote:

>The US Department of Transportation has just proposed 
>new guidelines to define anti-competitive activities 
>in the airline industry, where large airlines frequently
>force smaller carriers out of "fortress hubs"
>via predatory pricing strategies. Their criterion:
>predatory pricing is taking place when the larger
>airline forgoes more revenue than the smaller one
>could have taken from it. (See
>
>http://www.denverpost.com/business/biz0407b.htm
>
>for the full story.)
>
>What if the DoJ and the courts applied the same
>criterion to software? For example, if Microsoft --
>by giving Internet Explorer away for free instead of
>selling it -- foregoes more revenue than Netscape
>could have made selling its browser, then its giveaway
>constitutes predatory pricing. (This is likely true,
>as Microsoft used more employees to develop IE
>than were working at Netscape altogether.)
>
>The same standard could be applied to "sweetheart deals" 
>with universities (for example, the recent deal with 
>IU to convert the campus to Microsoft software), the 
>free bundling of Outlook with Microsoft Office, and the 
>giveaway of Outlook 98 to all comers.
>
>The best thing about approaching the Microsoft problem
>from this angle is that the DoJ would not have to "play
>catch-up," redefining its strategy with every new product
>or trend. Yes, there'd still be other sorts of exclusionary
>practices to deal with, but since most of them really
>center around bundling and giveaways, this would address
>many of them as well. What do you think?


     I've always said that all this talk about the DOJ not
'understanding' the software industry was nothing but 'bull'.  All
we've ever really needed is to have the current anti-trust laws
*ENFORCED* for a change.  There's nothing 'mystical' about the software
industry.  Every industry has a few unique nuances, but if the DOJ had
been enforcing our laws all along we wouldn't be in the mess we are
today.

 ...Cheers,

 ...Norm

***********************************************
* Brought to you by OS/2 Warp v4.0 and PMMail *
* For a copy of my PGP key send me a message  *
* with "send pub_key" in the subject          *	
***********************************************