On Friday, 10/20/2006 at 09:39 EST, Dave Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > IBM's actions here (not offering very cheap/"free" software licenses, free > hardware, etc.) as compared to what other vendors are willing to do might be > a result of the anti-trust cases brought against it decades ago (last one in > 1969?).
If you give away your product or sell it below the manufacturing cost, your competitors may view that as an attempt to put them out of business (predatory pricing). And just because Company A is able to do it, doesn't mean Company B can. (Nobody said life was fair, eh?) > As far as I know (and I am no lawyer) the consent decrees that IBM agreed to > to settle these antitrust cases are still in effect. It could be that these > legal agreements are preventing IBM from offering such inducements.....just > a thought. The consent decree itself expired several years ago, but the underlying legal principles that created it are still there. There is a lot of money in the mainframe business and IBM must act with careful thought before putting it at risk. If that means a bit of parnoia, that's ok with me. (I'm a stockholder, too!) Alan I-am-not-a-lawyer Altmark Speaking for himself ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
