[OT] RE: Microsoft removes Netscape support from IE; plug-in needsre-writing.

Richard A. O'Keefe ok at atlas.otago.ac.nz
Fri Jul 27 00:04:31 UTC 2001


"Stephen Pair" <spair at advantive.com> wrote:
	While I too am annoyed with Microsoft, I am pleased by the decision
	against breaking them up.  The decision to pursue that direction would
	only set a dangerous precedent

Surely the break-up of AT&T was all the precedent needed?
To me, it would make a lot of sense if Microsoft were broken up into
operating system, compilers, and applications companies.

Don't forget, Microsoft aren't just hurting *American* consumers;
they're damaging the productivity and privacy of people the world over.
The US government is the only effective defence those people have against
Microsoft; Microsoft's pockets are certainly deeper than those of my
government.

	I don't need or want the government's help against Microsoft...our
	industry can take care of monopolies just fine (and MS will probably
	collapse under its own weight like every bloated company eventually
	does).  I suppose I'm more optimistic than most I guess.
	
Where is the evidence that "our industry can take care of monopolies"?
[Hamlet]
    To be, or not to be: that is the question:
    Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
    The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
    Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
    And by opposing end them? ...</LINE>

Lying down and letting Microsoft do whatever they want to while waiting
for "our industry" to magically "take care of monopolies just fine" is a
guaranteed way to let a great deal of preventable suffering, loss of time,
loss of money, and loss of privacy continue.  Don't forget, the judge
found that Microsoft had done things that were out-and-out ILLEGAL.  

	The real danger is the human desire to topple the guy on top...at any
	cost.
	
No, the real danger is that the big guys get to feel that they don't need
to obey the same laws as everyone else, so they don't.  Why do you suppose
the USA doesn't have a king, and has to keep electing preisdents?




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