Re: Microsoft needs a help strategy

[amicus_curious]

"David Kastrup" <dak@gnu.org> wrote in message 
85k58jznbn.fsf@lola.goethe.zz">news:85k58jznbn.fsf@lola.goethe.zz...
> Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> writes:
>
> > At Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:56:25 -0500 "amicus_curious" <ACDC@sti.net> wrote:
> > > "Rjack" <user@example.net> wrote in message
> > > bumdnUH8Ov-23ebUnZ2dnUVZ_uydnZ2d@giganews.com">news:bumdnUH8Ov-23ebUnZ2dnUVZ_uydnZ2d@giganews.com...
> > > >
> > > > 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.
> >
> > I don't think antitrust enforcement is going to 'destroy' Microsoft.
>
> It is not the point.  The problem is that this "enforcement" has far too
> much time lag at the current point of time.  The educational value of
> measures is simply not there if instead of a slap on the wrist at the
> time of someone overstepping the bounds you get a vague threat of having
> him shot decades later.
>
> If the regulations are supposed to actually _achieve_ something, its
> effects need to much more immediate.  Just jotting down a scalding entry
> into a Doomsday book record is not going to change a thing.
>
> If every administration change just changes the proposed penalties but
> never actually gets the process finished, the exercise is rather
> pointless.
The notion that commercial progress is served by creating an envionment 
where a lot of companies are beating one another up on price is a false 
picture and one that politicians and jurists alike should re-examine.  Real 
progress occurs when there is something new and fresh that creates more 
enjoyment, leisure, or efficiency in people's lives.  That was the case with 
the PC and other recent tech phenomena such as game consoles, cell phones, 
iPods, and the like.  The product message for all the successful versions of 
these products was at least at first that the consumer had to have them to 
improve the consumer's life.  They were not touted as being less costly, but 
as being better than the old thing being replaced.  If there is some kind of 
monopoly stifling of such innovation, then it needs to be struck down, but 
if the power of the monopoly is that the original innovator bringing the 
product to a mass market has an advantage over the copycats, then it should 
be left alone.