OD[Original Dave],
First and foremost, I object of the use of my "name" on this forum. I have been a member of SI since October 1995, therefore I claim the sole right to the use of "Dave" :-)
Second, and my real points will follow, although the telecom act was supposed to provide Americans with competition amongst various telecommunications companies; it has been a failure.
Prior to the merger between AOL and Time Warner, AOL was the most dominant ISP in the US, and perhaps the entire world. I understand your arguments and understand the
"legal" differences between AOL and MSFT. My point is this, one of the reasons why the Justice Department alledged that MSFT was, in fact, a monopoly was the "bundling" of Windows and Internet Explorer that provided users no other choices.
However, if what the author of that passage is correct, AOL will provide no other ISP choices within RedHat to consumers. Even MSFT provides users a choice of ISPs, wherein the AOL icon is prominantly displayed on the desktop. Given the AOL/Timewarner merger, AOL is, in fact, a monopoly, given their ownership in cable. |
