Re: DOJ wimped out

[Roger Marquis <marquis@roble.com>]

On Thu, 5 Feb 1998, Rick Dahlgren wrote:
> I started this conversation and it remains to be seen that anyone will
> change anything, because to do so would increase costs, i.e. the cost of
> removing features from Windows 95.  

Removing features will increase costs?  Could you elaborate on this?
Hardware manufacturers spend next to nothing duplicating a master disk
millions of times.  The few hours it takes to setup and test the master
disk accounts for less than 1 cent in the overall price of even the
cheapest PCs.

> In the current issue of "Red Herring", Michael Dell aptly states that
> consumers really don't care much about any of this.....

If you don't think consumers care then you haven't been talking with the
same consumers we have.  Anyone with experience in more than one operating
system knows that open systems are the only way to ensure quality products
and competitive pricing.  Perhaps when Microsoft has to contend with Java
we'll see the "blue screen" less often. 

As for Michael Dell, he's always on the side of the big guy, no matter how
unethical the tactics.  Recall how he supported Intel when they had AMD in
court, eventually losing their attempt to monopolize the x86
architecture.

Roger Marquis