At 6:33 PM -0500 6/7/98, Michael A. Stone wrote:
>>A monopoly is when a company uses unfair practices to shut out
>>the competition, i.e., as purported by DOJ against MS. It is not
>>a monopoly when a company has a choice and picks the best product
>>available.
>
>by that reasoning, Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly either. sure, they
>have a 90% lock on the desktop market, but OEMs still have a /choice/.
Technically correct. However, the licensing agreement that led to the 1995
consent decree was extremely punitive -- if an OEM wanted to ship a box
with something other than DOS/Windows -- they either paid a helluva a per
unit price for each machine with DOS/Win /OR/ they paid a "more reasonable"
flat fee for every machine sold. Period. So the "secondary" OS became 2x as
expensive.
This is the basis for the DR-DOS case.
>the same holds for Intel. the best product doesn't always dominate the
>market, and market dominance can be gained in ways other than fair trade
>with a strong product. it's amazing what a talented contract lawyer can
>do and still remain (arguably) within the law.
it was the contracts that were deemed illegal -- and MS agreed to modify
them. but by then, the damage had been done. DR-DOS was dead. OEMs had told
Apple not to bother porting their OS to Intel because of the licensing
agreement with MS. No one left.
>the suit the FTC has recommended is to investigate whether Intel used its
>dominance in the processor market unfairly, to force other companies to
>give up trade secrets or otherwise play ball. the Intergraph suit is a
>pretty clear case of Intel using its leverage to yank somebody back into
>line.. with that line being drawn exactly where Intel wanted it. there
>have been similar stories about Intel and DEC, and i think the gov't has
>just decided it's time to step in and decide where *it* wants the lines to
>be drawn.
Kathy
===============================
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
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