Re: Microsoft needs a help strategy

[ZnU]

In article <slrngnrp7d.pl2.jedi@nomad.mishnet>,
 JEDIDIAH <jedi@nomad.mishnet> wrote:

> On 2009-01-25, ZnU <znu@fake.invalid> wrote:
> > In article <bumdnUH8Ov-23ebUnZ2dnUVZ_uydnZ2d@giganews.com>,
> >  Rjack <user@example.net> wrote:
> >
> >> With the advent of the Obama administration, it is generally 
> >> expected that the Justice Department and the FTC will become much 
> >> more aggressive in antitrust enforcement matters.
> >> 
> >> With Microsoft's OS share hovering around 90%,
> >> 
> >> http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8
> >> 
> >> how can Microsoft best subtly assist OSX and Linux in order to 
> >> avert antitrust prosecutions under the new administration that 
> >> will resemble those in the EU?
> >
> > I don't think you're going to see the new administration come down 
> > on Microsoft as long as Microsoft maintains the status quo. If 
> > Microsoft decides to pull a new stunt of similar scale to 
> > "integrating" IE, then you might see some action.
> 
> ...they don't need to.
> 
> Just the fact that they use Macs will leak out to the wider world and 
> that alone will have some impact. There also may be some impact that 
> comes from accomodating those Mac users within the current IT 
> infastructure at the White House and elsewhere.
> 
> The government doesn't need to "punish" Microsoft or any other 
> abusive corporation. They can simply choose to stop buying from them, 
> or perhaps make them work for it more.

Using a few Macs in the White House isn't going to make much 
difference. But it's true that the US federal government can wield 
enormous influence through its own purchasing, particularly when you 
consider that federal government technology adoption influences what 
government contractors use, which influences what their other customers 
and their suppliers use, creating a ripple effect throughout the economy.

At the very least the US federal government should make some noises 
about moving away from Windows and MS Office in order to get pricing 
concessions from Microsoft. Everyone else large enough to have 
substantial bargaining power seems to be doing that.

-- 
"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them
‹ that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer
apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too
small, but whether it works [...]"        -- Barack Obama, January 20th, 2008