[Am-info] Re: Ms & Soviet Union

[John Poltorak]

On Thu, Apr 25, 2002 at 06:54:48PM -0700, sturde@az.com wrote:
> In <20020426014000.D71AE29B85@lists.essential.org>, on 04/25/02 
>    at 09:40 PM, am-info-request@venice.essential.org said:
> 
> >I see strong parallels between the Communist Party in the Soviet Union  
> >and Microsoft in the USA. No one is prepared to speak against them until 
> >the inevitable is on the horizon, when suddenly all the rats start 
> >deserting the sinking ship.
> 
> As much as I dislike MS, you do protest too much.  The CP of the USSR had
> plenary power to make and execute law.  MS does not.  And remember even
> lawmakers have been know to bit the hand that feeds them.  Are you
> proposing that Congress is going repeal anti-trust law?  

There is no point in repealling it. Microsoft has simply broken the law  
which it does not recognise anyway and is being allowed to get away with 
it.

The whole point of the law is to penalise companies who monopolise markets 
and prevent such a monopoly from continuing.

There is no proposal which is going to bring down Microsoft's share of the 
PC operating system market, which is currently around 100% of all PCs 
sold. There are no plans to diminish MS Office's 90% share of the market 
for desktop office suites.

One has to ask what is the point of the anti-trust law. It has not had the 
slightest effect on Microsoft's business, and from my observation, the 
trial, far from reversing the situation, has actually affirmed Microsoft's 
right to operate as a monopoly since the only thing currently at stake 
is not whether the monopoly practise can continue, but whether Microsoft 
is entitled to bundle a much software into Windows as it does.

Clearly, Microsoft is being allowed to continue operating as a monopoly 
and the anti-trust laws simply do not apply to it. This makes a complete 
mockery of bothering to have anti-trust laws. No repeal is required as far 
as Microsoft is concerned.

> James Sturdevant


-- 
John