Who Will Enforce the Anti Trust Laws?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| garyedwards Jan 10, 2006 3:26 PM EDT |
Maybe the title should have been "Does Microsoft Use the DOJ as a Shill Against Linux and any other competitive threats?" Sadly this story carries over into the events taking place in Massachusetts, where raw intimidation of the worst kind was used to send a most chilling messages into a critically important marketplace of government information management systems. Many of the illegal monopolist activities identified in Judge Jackson's "findings of fact" are once again on display as Microsoft moves to freeze a marketplace, intimidate decision makers, and unduly influence the marketplace; using their desktop monopoly to unfairly block competitors as they extend their monopoly power into other markets such as servers, devices, multi media and anything having to do with the Open Internet or the implementation of SOA solutions. When Judge Collen got the call, there was much discussion about her laize-faire background and leanings. I'm all for free and open markets, but does that mean we should suspend the Rule of Law? I had thought that laize-faire attitudes were based on the damage of over regulation by unaccountable bureaucrats. There's a difference between regulation, government oversite, and the Rule of Law. But apparently the good Judge doesn't understand this. Some have argued that the Bush administration connected the March 2000 stock market crash (and end of the overly exuberant dotcom bubble) with Judge Jackson's final decisions regarding the "Findings of Fact" and Microsoft's objections. So when Bush did become President, he ordered the DOJ to settle and get the economy back on track. This approach might consistent with Reaganomics, but entirely ignorant of conservative respect for the Rule of Law and the Sovereignty of the Constitution. Enter Chairman Bill's bag men, Abramof and Reid. Now we're talking big time corporate corruption of our political process - the kind that makes the Enron crooks look like a bunch of boyscouts gone bad with some National Geographics magazines. I want to dial 911, but who is responsible for enforcing the laws of the land? Not this administration. Not this congress. And not this Judge. Can i call the EU? ~ge~ |
| tadelste Jan 10, 2006 4:44 PM EDT |
Gary: It will require a special prosecutor to unwind the Microsoft monopoly. The DoJ has demonstrated its unwillingness to do much. |
| salparadise Jan 10, 2006 10:05 PM EDT |
Then there is only one avenue left. You have to go to the people. The people, who though arguably deceived, ultimately wield the power. The few (ultra-rich, corrupt thieves) are terrified of the masses because they know that that is where the power lies. We consent to being ruled. We can withdraw that consent. I suggest a global "boycott Microsoft" campaign. |
| Turbocapitalist Jan 11, 2006 12:18 AM EDT |
If you want a global "boycott Microsoft" campaign, then start at home: Sample from .htaccess or httpd.conf: AuthType Basic <Limit GET> order allow,deny allow from all deny from .microsoft.com deny from .msn.com </Limit> Or take advantage of Lent, which is coming up, to get people to try to take a breather from MS or even closed formats. Most won't try it, but it might get people thinking. Right now MS and Gates are worshipped so heavily in all the media, that no non-MS technology gets a mention and no issues are brought up that might put MS in a bad light. Getting the media to cover the immunity OS X has to MS viruses might be a start. Or cover translation efforts of KDE or OOo as one of the sappy human interest stories they like to do. |
| salparadise Jan 11, 2006 2:26 AM EDT |
Yup.
My router at home has long been set to block access to all Microsoft sites. I'm not playing around here, these are not empty suggestions (not accusing you of implying that I was). I know it's a LONG road and a steep hill and that the odds are (apparently) against us. Patience is the order of the day. Every empire built on lies and coercion CANNOT stand indefinitely. One day, Microsoft will be a paragraph in a history book, nothing more. (If they don't bring the end of the world down on us in the meantime). |
| mvermeer Jan 11, 2006 5:26 AM EDT |
Sample from .htaccess or httpd.conf:
AuthType Basic
order allow,deny
allow from all
deny from .microsoft.com
deny from .msn.com
This looks plain unproductive. How many people are going to see or understand this? Consider rather var uagent = navigator.userAgent; if (uagent.indexOf("MSIE") != -1) { document.write("You seem to be using a substandard browser. Why don't you http://getfirefox.com/ ?"); } in your home page header. A realistic, concrete, understandable proposal. |
| richo123 Jan 11, 2006 8:20 AM EDT |
Can you give me a syntactical example, Martin?. My html skills aren't great. I am willing to do this with my home page. I assume the Konqueror with MSIE identity set will trigger this...(I want to test it and don't have Winblows handy) |
| richo123 Jan 11, 2006 8:34 AM EDT |
Nevermind, found it in your homepage. |
| mvermeer Jan 11, 2006 10:38 AM EDT |
> Nevermind, found it in your homepage. Yes, it was messed up in the post... see http://www.hut.fi/~mvermeer |
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