Re: Where we went astray-- Antitrust and Microsoft

John H. Lederer <johnl[_at_]ibm.net> wrote:
>
> We need, I think to rethink anti-trust law, and its applictaion to
> software, and we need to rethink the consequences of applying copyright
> and patent law to software.

I agree with your comments on the dangers of the Microsoft monopoly. I do not think that a change in copyright, patentlaw would help though. What difference would it make if people could copy windoze 95? There is nothing that really can be done against MS domination, it will only increase, killing all other platforms and competitors eventually. The importance of the quality of their products will also continue to decrease. Look at the horrorstories of NT, yet, marketingshare continues to climb.

No legal measures can undo this. The only hope is that MS itself will bogg down, say by having an extremely incompetent CEO after Gates.

The real issue though is that the consumers do not seem to mind the MS monopoly. In fact, they seem to enjoy it. Look at press coverage of MS. Mostly positive. Look at the coverage the only platform competitor (Mac) gets, mostly negative (often as if they are eagerly awaiting it's death).

So, MS is something that we need to accept and learn to live with for at least the next 10 years.

Regards,

Okke

O.U. Delfos Visser
<dvisser[_at_]xs4all.nl> Received on Thu Oct 30 1997 - 16:09:48 GMT