6 May
2000
6 May
'00
6:43 p.m.
MS has the market share it has by targeting
competition and ruthless use of
its monopoly powers
That is backwards. The law, and common sense, requires
that you already have to have significant market share
to have monopoly power. Monopoly power is the ability
to control prices and exclude competition by virtue of
monopoly power. To me, the question is, how did MS
achieve that power in the first place. There is no
doubt that once they had the power they abused it --
that is what the DOJ's case is all about. But it seems
to me that they must have done something "right" to get
the power in the first place, such as Windows 3.1 or
some such. When you don't have monopoly power,
targeting competition is not only not illiegal, it's
what the free market encourages because that's what
USUALLY benefits consumers in the long run.