[Am-info] Microsoft and DOJ

[Mike Stephen]

This article was written 2 years ago and is still germane to the solution.  I wish the Phoobhaas would 
look into this as a solution to the problem.  It is so simple and so elegant, it belies logic as to why it 
was not brought forth as a solution.
==========

My own answer to the current debacle was much easier.  Just make all OEM manufacturers 
advertise a cost without an operating system (and make it available with no operating system).  
Then the public would know how much the Windows tax really was.  It would allow all OEM's to 
compare prices, which would stop Microsoft from preferential treatment of OEM's that "tow the 
Microsoft line"  It would also allow other vendors to sell an operating system to the user at the time 
of purchase.  The only downfall is that the current batch of operating systems are too complicated 
for the average user to install.  Is this a problem with the user?  Or is it a problem with the operating 
systems.  I say it is with the operating systems, and that all of them could and should be made 
easier to install.  No government watchdogs need be utilized, no further need to break up Microsoft, 
and a level playing field for new vendors who want to fill the hard drives of all those new computers.  
I say bundle everything!  The more the merrier! RedHat and others could have a full CDROM with all 
kinds of productivity applications.  I know IBM could do so with Warp and Lotus products.  Star 
Office and Linux would make a nice alternative as well.  All we have to do is separate the hardware 
from the software, and then let the market decide.

However the poobhas decided to go a route that in my opinion will do nothing to move the industry 
out of the morass we have fallen into.

>From the Desk of Mike Stephen





>From the Desk of Mike Stephen