[Am-info] Microsoft and DOJ

[John Poltorak]

On Tue, Nov 06, 2001 at 03:43:22PM +0800, Mike Stephen wrote:
> 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



Unfortunately the question of abolition of the Microsoft Tax never got on 
the agenda. 

The DOJ settlement proposal was about getting Microsoft to allow *YOU* to 
have less Microsoft software on *YOUR* computer. The possibility of having 
NO Microsoft software installed in the first place has never even been 
entertained.


-- 
John