7 May
2000
7 May
'00
6:21 p.m.
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(a)monmouth.com | Microsoft: Where do you want to go today?
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