On Wednesday 24 October 2001 07:53 am, you wrote: > Matt Greer wrote: > > You missed the point. MS isn't required to create apps through > > the Windows API. They've got the whole run of the OS, considering > > they made it. Which means they can do things no one else can. So > > IE has advantages over Netscape because of this. > > > > Although I don't see a problem with that. Netscape is perfectly > > welcome to create their own OS and compete with Windows if they > > want to, same with anyone else. MS has every right to use their > > internal advantage against their competition. > > Re: "MS has every right to use their internal advantage against > their competition." > > Matt, > > I don't want to start a flame war, but I think everyone who reads > this should recognize that is your opinion, and there are other > opinions, as is clear from the antitrust cases against Microsoft. > > I don't know the law well enough to state this clearly or > correctly, but the government somehow reserves the right to limit > the behavior of monopolies (or almost monopolies) under certain > circumstances -- maybe when that monopoly severely restricts > competition, or maybe depending on the methods used to obtain and > maintain that monopoly, or maybe both. > > I won't go any further except to say there are quite a few people > that believe that some of the methods used to obtain and maintain > their monopoly were unfair and possibly illegal. >
Point taken. But I think the problem I and a lot of other people have is this silly notion that Microsoft MUST make its source code and APIs open to anybody. I say that's crap. Not every OS can be like Linux, and that's not what the government's case is about. You *CAN* close off your product to outside developers who failt to attain your expressed permission. It *IS* legal. This was a battle largely fought and lost in the 1980s. I think if you're going to make a case against Microsoft, you should focus on the more tangible legal aspects such as price-fixing and bundling. AFAIK, this is what the Justice Department's case is largely about. - John
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