What's behind Microsoft's Office moves?

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Of course competition is good...

The problem, which Axe refuses to see, is that unless a monopoly permits competition to exist; none may and this to the detriment of the consumer. Microsoft doesn't permit competition now, because they're suddenly good guys. They permit competition to exist because first the US antitrust case hung over their necks and now the EEC antitrust action is Damocles' sword.

Previous to these cases Microsoft had no reason to permit competition - embrace, extend, extinguish was the order of the day. Crush, crumble, and chomp were the marketting and sales style. FUD leaked from Redmond with regularity. The Microsoft of old would never have permitted upstarts to challenge their hegemony of the market and all evidence said they never did permit it.

Now, Microsoft has judicial oversight and the effect of such control cannot be underestimated. Microsoft has a reason to let a little of the market slip from their grasp. In four more years, if the US settlement hasn't yielded progress, as measured by a reduction of monopoly power; Microsoft will find themselves under continuing and perhaps more onerous restrictions. Is it not wise of them to cede a tiny slice of a market now, simply to avoid continuing restrictions later?

Axe and similarly minded folks would argue that "the market is working". They ignore that the market was affected by external forces. Once they admit these forces exist, can they argue convincingly that the miniscule market changes would have occurred without the barely hobbling effects of antitrust action? We'll know in about four years.

Of course competitition is good, and any rule, law, or ruling that accelerates a move to competition is also good. There are many tools in the competitition acceleration toolkit: anti-trust action is but one of them. Any good strategic planner takes all the effects of these tools into account. The bad ones wine that naught but their blunt hammer should exist.

Posted by: John Le'Brecage   Posted on: 12/01/03 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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