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

["P.A. Petricone" <pap@tiac.net>]

On Wednesday, December 09, 1998 8:30 PM, MarkCooper@aol.com wrote:
>
> 1)  The case is not about technology, it is about business.  Every time 
the
> courts wander into technology questions they lose sight of the simple 
fact
> that the issue is business practices.  If the business anticompetitive
> business practices are driven out of the industry, the technology will
> flourish.
>
>

It has always been about business. But, with connectivity now being so 
universal and almost presumed, the business is becoming focused on battles 
to gain control over increasing returns of a more complex nature.

The essential facility-like "bridges" include a host of new values beyond 
just payment for transit. Eyeball real estate billboarding has such high 
and re-marketable value that anything to advantage control over this arena 
takes place. Thus, OEMs, third parties and would-be contractors for the 
prized "user experience" can be denied access by convoluted licensing, as 
well as technical obfuscation practices that MS (and other vendors) have 
refined to a black art. Browsers, ISP icons, application demos, and what 
you might like to drink with that ham sandwich.

Presence is King, first and only presence is tyranny.

-pap