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Date:      Thu, 18 Nov 1999 14:31:15 -0800
From:      "David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com>
To:        "Greg Lehey" <grog@lemis.com>
Cc:        <chat@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   RE: Subjctive views of the world (was: Judge: "Gates Was Main Culprit")
Message-ID:  <000701bf3214$a03b5180$021d85d1@youwant.to>
In-Reply-To: <19991118172219.62530@mojave.sitaranetworks.com>

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> On Thursday, 18 November 1999 at 14:13:25 -0800, David Schwartz wrote:
> >
> >> On Thursday, 18 November 1999 at 10:23:28 -0800, David Schwartz wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>> Is it possible for company to cause the adoption of lesser
> >>>>> technology purely by business/marketing tactics?
> >>>>
> >>>> Yes.  It required the ability to wield what is called "monopolistic
> >>>> power" in the marketplace.  If you can wield this power, you can
> >>>> subvert normal free-market pressures, and by subverting, ignore them.
> >>>
> >>> 	Then why is it that not one single clear example of this
> >> has ever been
> >>> found? This must be some extreme usage of the word "possible".
> >>
> >> A good question.  We've found them.  When you say (paraphrased) "why
> >> has no example been found?", I have to assume you mean "why have I not
> >> seen one?".
> >>
> >> I can't answer that question.
> >
> > 	Seeing as I'm the only person in this thread who has cited
> even a single
> > reference to back up his claims, this amounts to little more
> than whining.
>
> No, it's a disparate view of the world.  I have seen plenty of
> references to back up claims, but none of them came from you.
>
> I once did a lot of thinking about people like you.  You're not
> certifiably crazy, and I'm the first to stand up for letting everybody
> have their own opinion.  On the other hand, your view of the world
> differs so totally from that of everybody else I know that I do think
> there's something wrong with you.  But there's a simple way of testing
> this: if we had a vote, what proportion would agree that no example of
> a monopoly has been presented, and what proportion would not?  Come up
> with something approximating the correct answer and there's still
> hope.

	Eh? I never said monopolies don't exist. I'm sure they do, and for good
reasons.

	For some things, there's a tremendous benefit to us all having similar
things. Perhaps even operating systems fall into this categorty. This would
mean that you would expect to see a monopoly in the operating system market.

	Similarly, there are advantages to people having compatible instruction
architectures. This is why the '386-compatibles have held the desktop market
for so long. If Intel had successfully kept the architecture all to
themself, they would certainly have held a monopoly for some amount of time.
Perhaps over many generations, if they could keep extending the architecture
sufficiently that there was no great loss in sticking with it.

	Are you reading what I'm saying? Or is there a narrow slot in your mind for
people who disagree with you that you are trying to pigeonhole me into?

	I'm sure you can find this entire thread somewhere. Please cite back to me
anything I said that made you suspect that I would take the position that
monopolies don't exist.

	DS



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