> The working points to tick off are;
>
> MS used the profits from OS sales to subsidize the operations of groups
> competing against the applications of other companies, giving away products
> if nescessary to force the other company out of business.
Yup...
>
> MS used OS incompatibilities to kill off competing applications.
Yup and changed the API for Win32 to break OS/2 compatibility
for the "portable Win32 API" Win32s that worked with Windows
for Workgroups and OS/2.
>
> MS used applications incompatibilies to kill off competing OSes.
Yup... notice the Office 95 suite's broken save to rtf and save to
Word6 functions that pushed places to Office97.
>
> MS used OS license agreements to kill off competing applications through
> preinstalled software exclusive agreements, and flat rate pricing
> structures (you pay a license fee on every system you sell whether it has
> MS OS on it or not).
Very true. This was a big push to IBM to eliminate OS/2 support and
new versions or lose the rights to Win95.
>
> MS used ad boycotts to kill any magazine with negative reviews.
Very true.
>
> MS used coertion and retaliation to make other companies toe the same line.
> This is especially true now where nobody is willing to say word one in this
> trial for fear of what MS would do.
Sure seemed that Compaq and DEC were intimidated. Ask the internal DEC
folks about MS getting a lot of DEC cluster code and NT work in exchange
for MS paying for Robert Palmer's getting DEC Field Service and Software
Services personnel MS trained on MS $$$.
(and they pushed customers off ALL-IN-ONE to Exchange (and off Vax Mail
internally as part of the deal)...
>
> Yes this has been a real help to consumers. Its classic vertical monopoly
> behavior any turn of the century muckraker would recognize, and that it is
> successfull should come as a surprize to no one.
>
And it's one of the most underreported stories -- since MS began buying
up the ad space to tell "IT's Story" as crafted by Gates, Balmer, and
Wagner Eddstrom.
Bill
--
bpechter_at_monmouth.com | Microsoft: Where do you want to go today?
| Linux: Where do you want to go tomorrow?
| BSD: Are you guys coming, or what?
Received on Sun May 07 2000 - 18:21:52 BST