Judge raps Microsoft for antitrust 'foot-dragging'

TalkBack 28 of 93:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

Subtle Difference in Anti-Trust...

No one was saying that Microsoft having a monopoly was illegal. Having a monopoly is NOT illegal. It is how they were using it to unfairly create another monopoly that was illegal. If we are going to use sporting analogies, take horse racing. It is not unfair to the have the fastest horse on the track - it is not unfair to have that horse beat all others by a dozen lengths. But it is unfair to leverage that horse to win a human marathon by riding it.

Likewise, I did not use the words "fair" by themselves with respect to business. I used the words "fairly compete"; by which I meant that MS would use ONLY those means available to their competitors to compete in the market. For example, better product, advertising. Now I am not saying MS doesn't advertise - it does - nor am I saying they are not trying to make better products - I actually believe they are trying to do that (when they perceive competition). What I am saying is that they used - and the appeal Judges agreed with Judge Jackson here - ILLEGAL monopolistic practices by leveraging an existing monopoly (OS) to gain another monopoly (browser).

For example, if I made the "Banjo Quantum Chip" that was the first in the "Quantum Computing" market for home users and, by that fact, was the leading Quantum Chip in that market. Now, I would have to expect that Intel would R&D hard, advertise hard, and would have better production means in order to discount their product hard. It would be tough, but it would be fair competition. But if Intel used their monopoly in the "orthodox" chip market and gave away their quantum chips (at a loss), simply to gain a dominant position in this market, then it is unfair, illegal competition. Other methods may be to make deals with hardware vendors so that they would only sell Intel's "Quantum Chip"s if they wished to continue to sell Intel's other chips. Again, the competition is not only unfair, it is illegal.

So - bouncing and mixing metaphors like tennis balls in a blender - back to horse racing - I do not believe that the fastest horse has to be knobbled in order to make the race fair (although horses are in certain racs by being given weights), but I do not think the new nag to the field should NOT use the fact it owns the race track to win (like starting just before the finish line, or something).

Good to see you're back in form, I was getting worried.

Regards

The Banjo

Posted by: BanjoPaterson   Posted on: 02/14/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Remote Management With the Baseboard Management Controller in Eighth-Generation Dell PowerEdge Servers Dell The first wave of eighth-generation Dell servers - the Dell PowerEdge 1850 ... Download Now
• Advanced Java Memory Analysis with JProbe Quest Software Memory issues in Java applications can cripple performance and cost your ... Download Now
• July 14th: The Virtual Presenter's Series: Start Right! Design Right! Present Right! Citrix Online Presenting online is a completely different ballgame from presenting in ... Download Now