Re: Microsoft: OEM choice would be a "disaster"

["Eric M. Bennett" <ericb@pobox.com>]

Christopher Pall wrote:

>a) This is a trial based on established anti-trust law. The DOJ is not out to
>set standards in the OS business, nor tell Microsoft how to write software.
>This is all a big ole Microsoft FEAR smokescreen everyone falls for.

Of course, it should be of no concern to antitrust authorities if Microsoft
is breaking some technical definition of an OS in the course of satisfying
consumer demand.  If consumers *demand* that Microsoft bundle a ham
sandwich with Windows, then there should be no antitrust suit regardless of
the fact that no known definition of "operating system" includes ham
sandwiches.  I am surprised Microsoft hasn't made this argument itself.

In the above sense, I think the testimony of the DOJ's current witness as
it relates to definitions of technical computing terms is almost pointless
(his comments about why OS buyers would want to choose their sandwiches
separately from the core OS are, of course, *not* irrelevant).



--
Eric Bennett (http://www.pobox.com/~ericb/)
Cornell University, Field of Biochemistry, 377 Olin Chemistry Lab

I am a Macintosh loyalist and a happy user of Microsoft software.  Thus,
99.7% of everybody even remotely involved with computers has reason to find
fault with me.
-Mark Lincoln