Here are some links to _The Economist_ "free" section (the links are frameless - i expect thanks <g> for that as the site has 4 frames!). For those of you unfamiliar with the magazine -- it is /extremely/ libertarian-free market in its philosophy. For it to speak out against MS is a major PR coup for the DOJ as it is definitely a "public opinion influencer" .... Letters RE MS monopoly (all negative toward MS): http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/microsoft_case/letters.html gates response to 23 May story (avoid if you have high blood pressure) http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/microsoft_case/rsf1077.html may 23 critique of MS business practices by the economist: http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/microsoft_case/ld5033us.html <quote> At first sight it seems strange to pounce on Microsoft after all this time. The software company has long enjoyed a near-monopoly of operating-system software for personal computers. A monopoly that has been fairly acquired is not necessarily illegal. And this one has brought consumers the benefit of a software standard, with lower costs and the guarantee of compatibility between programs and hardware. What is more, Microsoft has conveniently extended its monopoly by enlarging the operating system to include such tools as fax and data-compression software. All the while, computers have fallen in price, and their performance has improved. Innovation continues apace. Getting on for 200 new software companies were founded in America last year; twice as many as in 1990. Many, among them most American consumers and until recently this newspaper, have concluded that this is reason enough to leave well alone. Yet Microsoft's behaviour turns out not to have been so innocent. The Justice Department's investigations have cast light on manipulation that ill befits a monopolist. And Microsoft's attempt to extend its monopoly in operating systems to browsers, which enable users to roam the Internet, is not merely a question of incorporating a small utility program. If Microsoft has broken the law, it should be punished. If it now poses an unfair threat to new companies, then its power should be curbed. <snip> Yet, however unpleasant Microsoft may have been to Netscape, it has a case to answer only if its actions have harmed consumers. In an industry where falling prices are the norm, the cost of a retail upgrade of Windows has more than doubled since 1990-though today's package contains many new functions. [ASIDE: Like the Computers Don't?] And having established its Internet browser-and with its influence over users intact-Microsoft may be able to stifle services that would emerge with competition. That Microsoft felt it had to use its Windows monopoly to flatten Netscape only adds to the sense of unease. </quote> for those of you who wanted a definition of "monopoly" http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/microsoft_case/sf1058.html <quote> These techniques were first applied in 1995, when Interstate Bakeries, America's third-largest wholesale baker, proposed to buy rival Continental Baking. Instead of arguing about whether the market for white bread is separate from the market for rye, the government obtained scanner data from a commercial-information company, providing weekly details about average prices and sales volumes for dozens of different breads in various cities. Thousands of equations later, economists from the Department of Justice concluded that the price of Interstate's sliced white breads strongly affected sales of Continental's Wonder bread, and vice versa, but made little difference to sales of other white breads or other varieties, such as rye. Having shown that each company's brands were the main restraint on the other's prices, the authorities moved to block the merger. In the end Interstate met their objections by selling some of its brands and bakeries. The empirical analysis went still further with last year's proposed merger of Staples and Office Depot, two chains of office-supply "superstores" in America. By traditional lights, the merger posed no problems, as thousands of retailers sell office supplies. But when economists hired by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) scrutinised sales prices and quantities for every item sold by each chain, the computers spotted a pattern: Staples's prices were lower in cities where Office Depot also had a store than in cities where it had none. This was strong and unexpected evidence that the merger would allow Staples to raise prices. A court then blocked the merger. </quote> It goes on to poke BIG holes in the 1980s "chicago" school of economics, which was influential in Washington DC and London -- and which assumed "perfect competition" or "pure monopoly" -- neither which exist in the real world. Example (which the article assumes is past history but which other articles posted recently note is still the case): <quote> * Reducing rivals' revenues. A different sort of predation was behind a Microsoft strategy that obliged computer makers to pay it a royalty on each machine they sold, whether or not it carried Microsoft's software. Frederick Warren-Boulton, a Washington-based economist and former Justice Department official, labels this a "tax" on competitors: customers will be unwilling to pay much for other firms' software, as they must already pay for Microsoft's. Microsoft changed its policy in 1995, but a current court case, dealing with its efforts to undercut Netscape by giving away its Internet browser, raises similar issues. "This is a class of problem that has not been analysed before," Mr Warren-Boulton says. </quote> And an old story on Sun and Java: http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/microsoft_case/wb9274.html =============================== Kathy E. Gill, Guide - http://agriculture.miningco.com/ Publisher, eNetDigest - http://www.enetdigest.com/ WWW design � writing � training - http://www.dotparagon.com/ You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Gandhi ____________________________________________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Web Consultants Association : Register on our web site Now Web Consultants Web Site : http://just4u.com/webconsultants If you lose the instructions All subscription/unsubscribing can be done directly from our website for all our lists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
