Dear JTD,While a lawyer, I'm no competition law expert, and know still less about the new act (while I at least had some amount of familiarity with the old act). So I won't respond to specifics of desirability of one approach over another, since I'm not qualified to.
However, I don't think things like lack of security of an OS is either something that can be objectively proved in a way that satisfies a court, no is it a consideration for competition law purposes. (Remember, this isn't about standards/quality which consumer law might deal with.)
I agree that difference in prices between a computer with an OS and that same one without should be compared with the retail prices of the OS. Could the hive mind provide examples and instances? I've saved the Thinkpad India website which provides that info.
Regards, Pranesh On Tuesday 16 November 2010 05:48 PM, jtd wrote:
On Tuesday 16 November 2010 17:07:15 Pranesh Prakash wrote:Dear all, As some of you might be aware, CIS has commissioned Anuj Puri, a respected competition law attorney, to write a report on software practices and competition law in India. That report can then be used as a basis for legal interventions before the Competition Commission of India. Anuj wanted the help of the FOSS community in getting evidence about practices. He needs our help in getting more details on the following fronts:1. How are the software priced? If we have to allege predatory pricing on behalf of any firm, we need to know if we can predict their average variable cost or marginal cost.I know of atleast one person (in 2001) who negotiated 60% + discount on purchase of licenced M$ products. The company (Rs.200 Cr. in 2001) used some licenced M$ products, but also mostly used the same cds in all it's comps. M$ threatened with legal action. The IT head installed RH6.2 (afair) on his desktop and called the M$ RM. During the meeting he told M$ that he was already planning to switch to linux (from unix) on the servers and quite liked RH6.2. The M$ manager had never heard of linux and was under the impression that unix was only CLI. He was shocked to see a nice Kde display with staroffice. The offer he made was 50% off (later upped to 64%), to get rid of linux and unix, alongwith an upper price freeze and purchase schedule extending to 3 yrs.2. How are they sold or licensed- details of bulk discount, bundling? I would require some evidence of the default internet browser, media player, etc., sold in tandom with the OS. The best I have at the moment is an OS vendor's website which is really short on details. Similar evidence of exclusive tie-up between any OS vendor and an OEM would be extremely helpful.IMO this is a wrong track. All we have to prove is that MOST systems are not available without OS and very many are installed with a crippled edition (Windows Vista Home Edition). In both cases there is no installation CD and one has to obtain the CD after making an email request. Since the OS is charged for, It must be accompanied by a CD alongwith a printed warranty for the software. Also the price difference (machine with software - machine without software) should be compared with the retail price of the said software. Finally - When it's M$ there has to be finality on this one thing SECURITY - the hobbled edition is atually shipped complete and requires merely an activation key. Which means the cost of both home and professional is the same. One can, as usual, bypass M$ security farce and get a full install without downloading anything from M$. http://apcmag.com/its_official_pirates_crack_vista_at_last.htm WARNING: I dont have a doze machine and have np clue about the actual process above.3. Predatory pricing instances. Newspaper reports, other data illustrating where software, OS or hardware have been supplied free of cost or below cost to state agencies.IMO mere mandatory unbundling of hardware and software is all that is required. Getting into pricing and discounts will not serve much of a purpose.I would request people to send in material to substantiate the above, and evidence of any other practice that they feel might be violative of our competition law. Please spread the word around on other mailing lists as well, and help us get as much detail as possible. Regards, Pranesh
-- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283
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