Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 02:46:55 -0700
From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
To: "Shannon Hendrix" <shannon@widomaker.com>, <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject: RE: Lets not bash Windows or M$ at every opportunity {was: FreeBSD and Microsoft}
Message-ID: <002901c103a5$188a79a0$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>
In-Reply-To: <20010702121916.B17119@widomaker.com>
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>-----Original Message----- >From: owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG >[mailto:owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Shannon Hendrix >> media format - they are just being dragged along like the rest >>of the users. > >They are just as much a part of the black-box data formats as anyone >else. Microsoft has more than enough mind share to force a single media >format if they wanted to, or to force them to be open. > I don't know that now they could - it would be quite monopolistic and the regulators wouldn't like that. >It depends on how it works out. I was only joking anyway: Congress has >more than enough table money from people other than Microsoft that they >could do without. > >I think a breakup of Microsoft should be more than just a simple split. >I think each division should be geographically seperated. Internet or >not, companies tend to diverge when divisions are seperated by distance. > I think that actually where the anti-trust trial is headed we will see something like this happen. I suspect it will take the form of the government regulators requiring divestiture of some product lines and those lines will be bought by Microsoft competitors who aren't located nearby. > >> Their fate is equivalent to the criminal who was about to be >executed in the >> electric chair, and in the final hour the governor pardoned >them. If they >> so much as step out of line again, they are dead. > >I would like to think so, because they are going far, far out of line >already. If you are right, they should not have long to live. > When I was saying died in this context I should have explained it because I was being more figurative than literal. They won't die in the sense that the company will go bankrupt, I don't think. What will die is their MO of doing business. If they get hauled into trust court again I think we will see the court become so exasperated that not only will they issue tremendous fines but they will split the company 6 ways to Sunday and bar Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer, and the rest of the upper exec staff from even owning stock in any of the divested portfolios. In short, Microsoft will become a shadow of their former self. As it is right now, we still have all the rats in one trap, which actually gives some advantages to the regulators as it's easier to keep an eye on what they are doing. Ted Mittelstaedt tedm@toybox.placo.com Author of: The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide Book website: http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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