[Am-info] Legal monopoly?

[Eric M. Bennett]

John Poltorak <jp@eyup.org> wrote:

>Destruction of competing products my Microsoft is well documented.
>
>They stole STACs code and incorporated it in DOS 6.
>
>They sabotaged DR DOS by putting spurious code into Windows 3.11.
>
>They 'fined' IBM for daring to offer a rival OS on some of its computers.
>
>They 'stole the air' which Netscape breathed.
>
>There are probably many other examples as well...

I wasn't saying *Microsoft* obtained its monopoly legally, just that 
monopolies are not inherently illegal under the Sherman Act.  In any 
event, as far as I am aware, nobody has ever sued Microsoft for the 
means it used to originally obtain the Windows monopoly.  Some of the 
examples you cite are things that Microsoft did to defend its 
monopoly after it was already obtained, which is legally distinct 
from original acquisition of monopoly.



-- 
Eric Bennett / ericb@pobox.com / emb22@cornell.edu
Cornell University, Chemistry & Chemical Biology

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Ben Franklin