From owner-freebsd-advocacy Tue May 19 14:30:41 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA19646 for freebsd-advocacy-outgoing; Tue, 19 May 1998 14:30:41 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from huron.nvl.virginia.edu (adrian@mail.nvl.Virginia.EDU [128.143.244.43]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA19520 for ; Tue, 19 May 1998 14:30:15 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from adrian@nvl.virginia.edu) Received: from localhost (adrian@localhost) by huron.nvl.virginia.edu (8.8.6 (PHNE_14041)/8.8.6) with SMTP id RAA19584 for ; Tue, 19 May 1998 17:29:51 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 17:29:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Adrian Filipi-Martin Reply-To: Adrian Filipi-Martin To: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why we should support Microsoft... In-Reply-To: <9805191840.AA21566@ringworld.uniscape.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > You wrote: > > > > > > We must take a stand, and tell the Justice Deptartment to bugger off. They > > do not understand the software industry, they are setting a horrible > > precendent, and depriving the American people of free choice. Ok, I've tried to stay away from this, but I cannot resist. I agree that MS should be able to choose the definion of its software packages, but likewise so should its resellers. Maybe they do not understand the software industry, but they do understand monopolies and unfair trade practices such as collusion and covert oligopolies. If going after microsoft on nits such as the explorer seems myopic and ill conceived, recall how many major organized criminals are caught in the U.S.: tax evasion. I don't think anyone disagrees that MS needs to be curbed to preserve free competition and the incentive to innovate. If viewed from this perspective, I say go for the jugular. MS has already lowered the consumers' expectations for software reliability so much that it is hard to convince people that there are mythical machines that work for days, weeks, months and even years without a single software failure. [BTW, I gree with one of the other posters: let's let this move to] [chat and stay more freebsd centric on our advocacy discussions. ] Adrian -- adrian@virginia.edu ---->>>>| If I were stranded on a desert island, and System Administrator --->>>| I could only have one OS for my computer, Neurosurgical Visualization Lab ->>| it would be FreeBSD. Think about it..... http://www.nvl.virginia.edu/ ->| http://www.freebsd.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message