Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 23:37:32 +0000 (GMT) From: Jonathon McKitrick <jcm@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> To: Alfred Perlstein <bright@wintelcom.net> Cc: Angus Scott-Fleming <angussf@geoapps.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Judge: "Gates Was Main Culprit" Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.02A.9911102337140.39455-100000@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9911101538550.12797-100000@fw.wintelcom.net>
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Well said, as usual, Alfred !
:-)
On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, Alfred Perlstein wrote:
>On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, Jonathon McKitrick wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, Angus Scott-Fleming wrote:
>>
>> >On 7 Nov 99, at 17:40, Pedro Fernando Giffuni wrote:
>> >
>> >> Isn't it a good time to be a FreeBSD user? :-).
>> >>
>> >> I read the complete document(WOW, I wasn't aware of everything there).
>> >> Considering a Judge wrote this, I think M$ is in big trouble.
>> >
>> >I think the whole computer business is in Big Trouble - once the
>> >government steps in and starts telling us how to run our businesses,
>> >innovation will drop to a crawl as bus.people try to 2nd-guess the govt
>> >regulators.
>> >
>> >Not saying MS is/was right, but my solution has always been not to do
>> >business with people whose business ethics are lousy. This is the only
>> >ethical way to deal with people like that. Bringing the power of
>> >government ("the mob") down on them is a short-term fix, but it's a
>> >long-term problem as others will drag the govt. into this arena and
>> >IMHO we'll all suffer for it.
>> >
>> >Open-source doesn't suffer from this problem because you can go
>> >elsewhere for support when you don't like the ethics of the business
>> >that's using/selling it.
>>
>> Unfortunately, you *can't* go anywhere else if you want the windows OS and
>> software that works best with it. If windows had at least given its
>> source code to developers, they could have improved it. Much like MSDOS,
>> PCDOS, IBMDOS, COMPAQDOS, etc. But no, they kept it all a big secret. I
>> think if windows went open source, it would be optimized and enhanced so
>> quickly, and the public would benefit.
>
>I don't think this is a fair assesment of what the case was about,
>MS has been accused of several things:
>
>1) paying off lead developers of competeing software so they leave
> the competing firm
>2) buying into a market, then using it's push to penalize companies
> using a competator's services in the markets that is already has
> a foothold in
>3) penalizing companies that have any association with a competator
> by raising license fees and withholding products.
>4) adding gratitous incompatibilities to thier OS to break competator's
> competing programs such as browsers and office suites.
>
>That is what was unfair about MS's alleged business practices.
>
>In point of open source, I don't think anyone wants to look at code
>little with variables named ThisIsMyFunkyWidget_32compat, it would
>potentially set the whole opensource community back 10 years when just
>the site of such source could turn one into a raving, frothing madman.
>
>:)
>
>-Alfred
>
>
-jonathon
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