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Re: DOJ actions -- Why not Windows 98?
I don't think DOJ has logically insist that any feature be unbundled.
The browser isn't just any feature however. It is a platform for lots
of applications. This is why it should be unbundled.
Jamie
Hans Reiser wrote:
>
> James Love wrote:
>
> > Microsoft's defense is that MSIE4.0 will *be* part of the operating
> > system in Win98. Indeed, if you install MSIE4.0 in Win95, and include
> > the active desktop, it replaces the standard file manager with the
> > browser. For DOJ's actions to meaningful, DOJ has to prevent MS from
> > achiving by product integration what it is a seeking to do through
> > tying. Jamie
>
> Do you folks think that I am correct in saying that for the DOJ argument to
> be logically consistent DOJ must make the argument that any OS component
> that has a competitor must be untied if it is feasible to do so? That is
> what I found disappointing in reading the DOJ's argument, that they haven't
> owned up to what this logically necessitates.
>
> Fortunately, modern software technology makes it extensively feasible to
> perform this untying, and to allow consumers to configure the components
> they want from the vendor they want, download them over the net, and
> recompile the OS (e.g. Linux does it in a way that requires sophistication
> and effort, making it work for average users without a lot of time for
> system administration is technically quite feasible). You could not do
> this effectively with assembly line factory work, and that is why we don't
> force GM to offer us a choice of all possible mufflers. Anti-Trust
> policies must change with the technology.
>
> On a different topic, is it correct to think that section 6 (forfeiture) of
> Sherman Anti-Trust cannot be requested by a private action? Or is it
> merely not usually done?
>
> Hans
--
James Love | Center for Study of Responsive Law
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