It's all about the money
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| qcimushroom Jun 22, 2005 9:21 AM EDT |
If Linux servers did not protect windows users from each other, there would be a lot more infected computers. Is Microsoft removing the alternatives and promoting a greater need for their newest offering "one care" or what ever it's called? |
| phubert Jun 22, 2005 10:24 AM EDT |
"It's all about the money" seems to sum it up for just about everything as we look around us. Even to the point of 'remediation' -really- being about the bigger guys making certain the smaller guys don't reduce the fat cats' margins! (thinking of the U.N. Oil for Food issue, for starters) Oh well, it's difficult not to be cynical these days. |
| tadelste Jun 22, 2005 10:50 AM EDT |
Microsoft's margins are somewhat equivalent to usurious. If they sold gasoline, wouldn't they be fined for price gouging? The only enterprise with whom I could compare them is the Poppy trade. Something that costs nothing yields huge prices in the street. What does a CD cost them - it was 13 cents at one point. Hello? |
| phubert Jun 22, 2005 11:09 AM EDT |
Isn't it a bit more difficult to apply a "restraint of trade" argument when it comes to Linux? After all, Linux isn't a commercial product! UNIX, on the other hand... I'd love to see a legal thread on this one... AND someone open a case _against_ Microsoft. |
| tadelste Jun 22, 2005 11:48 AM EDT |
Restraint of trade deals with behavior not necessarily an argument that a company was hurt. But does an organization by its behavior eliminate a fair market or playing field. Franklin D. Roosevelt said this about monopolies: "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That in it's essence, is Fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group or by any controlling private power." - Message proposing the "Standard Oil" Monopoly Investigation, 1938 I want to know and believe that it's every US citizens right to know if Microsoft's behavior thwarts the market, hinders jobs, fixes priices, requites others to behave a certain way by restricting its options. Do you think that Microsoft's prices are usurious? If an oil company took advantage of oil prices and gouged someone - would the government allow that? No. The same principles apply. Something's amiss. |
| phubert Jun 22, 2005 12:16 PM EDT |
I couldn't agree more, Tom. But, everyone understands gas prices ... every time they go to the pump. And, I think it is that frequency of purchase that makes much of the difference. For home users, the OS almost always comes with the PC purchase. And, Microsoft's ubiquity seems almost completely unchallenged as, unlike pumping gas, most of PC configuration and use appears to be mysterious and even incomprehensible to the majority of users. The very _thought_ of alternatives, I suspect, is largely beyond them unless their hand is held and guided most, if not all the way! After all, is it price, alone, that keeps the Mac a niche market?? I don't think so. This is also why I've considered Linux desktop penetration critical from Day 1. Until "Linux" gains real mindshare and both the disadvantages of Microsoft dominance and the availability of REAL alternatives become part of the perception of the average user, I think the road will remain very difficult. Then again, how many people understand how vital essential principles such as your quote from Roosevelt really are? Of course that is also why this sort of article is so important. Thanks for presenting it! |
| tadelste Jun 22, 2005 8:26 PM EDT |
phubert: Thank you for the very insightful observation. I agree with all your points, especially the urgency around desktop Linux. All the best! |
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