I too have my doubts about Microsoft software. Yes, they clearly

dominate a very lucrative market largely due to, as you mention, "sheer incompetance on the part of the rest of the industry" but another important reason is better marketing. Netscape, for example, could have beaten out MS if they had had better marketing and strategy (incompetance?).

I believe the point of the Justice Dept. investigations is anti-trust issues more than it is a witch hunt. We all know that monopolies can, but not necesarily do, produce inferior products. Anti-trust laws are meant to facilitate competition on even ground and that can lead to better products for us the consumers. MS canŽt be blamed for the incompetence of the rest of the industry. If MS wins anti-trust litigation then so be it but someone has to keep them in check. We elect the people who appoint others to review these matters. If no one does it then soon weŽll see "Microsoft Compatible" stickers on the dashboards of our cars, toasters, beepers, etc. And what will happen to Unix then when we live in a Microsoft compatible world? BTW, my beef with MS is primarily quality. If they want to dominate the market then they better give me quality or IŽll spend my money elsewhere. Would you buy a Ford if you knew the tires would fall off if you donŽt install the **latest-and-greatest Service Pack**? I, for one, will keep bugging MS to produce better products. In the meantime, IŽll keep buying from the Unix side (which is also lagging). Arturo Grapa Ysunza agrapa@banamex.com Ing. de Comunicaciones Banco Nacional de México, S.A. http://www.banamex.com/

---------- Desde: Declan McCullagh[SMTP:declan@well.com] Enviado el: Miércoles 22 de Octubre de 1997 1:07 PM Para: Lizard Cc: Jennifer S. Granick Asunto: Re: Bill Gates, the Bully Savior

There was a good op-ed in the WSJ on Monday. The Politics of Envy, basically. Why everyone in Silicon Valley hates Microsoft...

But some of the complaints about Microsoft come down to personal taste. The masses offend refined sensibilities when they buy Windows 95 in droves. Rein them in! Stop them from buying what they want! Don't let them get free copies of Internet Explorer.

I share Lizard's distaste for Microsoft products. My Unix workstation at home has not one MSFT application on it. I have only Microsoft Word on my Duo at work, and I could get by with WordPerfect. But our dislike for their products doesn't mean that we are morally justified in restricting what the company can do.

-Declan

At 10:42 -0700 10/22/97, Lizard wrote:

...

Uhm...how do 'we all' benefit from having the same Justice Department which defended the CDA (and which is pushing for GAK) decide for us all what is, and is not, part of an operating system?

These people are not qualified to make ANY judgements about computers -- I have to assume the 'experts' they got to tell them about OS software are no more qualified than the 'experts' they got to testify about the CDA (L-18, anyone?).

I have no great love for Microsoft (I don't think anyone forced to use their crappy software does), and, emotionally, I'd like to see them get taken down a peg -- but legally and ethically, they are not doing anything wrong. They're just being tough competitors. Microsoft has prospered not due to any technical brilliance on their part, but due to sheer incompetance on the part of the rest of the industry, who have made a hobby of underestimating Bill Gates and overestimating their own customers loyalty.

It's a pity I'm a mind-flaying victim. If I wasn't, I could forget principles and ideals and just say, "Microsoft Big. Microsoft Nasty. Uncle Sam stomp Microsoft. Yay, Uncle Sam." But because I work from principle FIRST, I have to grant Microsoft the same rights I would grant Sam's Deli or Joe's Shoe Store, and that includes the right to offer any combination of products or services they wish, and let the market decide to buy or not.

------------------------- Declan McCullagh Time Inc. The Netly News Network Washington Correspondent http://netlynews.com/