Boy, I sure am glad I found this thread. Good dialog with no insults is very refreshing.
You know, Gates and Rockefeller have a lot in common. Both wanted to standardize the industry they were in while at the same time make a buck. In Rockefeller and Standard Oils case, the easiest way was to become a monopoly and force all others to comply or die. He did such things as sell under cost to "give the other guy a good sweating," he had the railroads charge a extra fee to any other oil producer which was than given to him, so the small guys were actually cutting their own throats, and he would withhold any of his oil from shipping on anyone that would not comply.
Gates has pretty much done the same, making computer manufacturers pay him a fee for every computer sold regardless of whether it had Windows or not, threatening to withhold license for Windows if a computer manufacturer would not comply, and force the small people to spend an exorbitant amount of their limited resources trying to make apps for his operating systems while he already had every app in the world ready to go when the op system came out.
Difference so far between the two is the Rockefeller was forced to split up while Gates got a slap on the wrist. So far, that is. Things could change.We will see.
By the way, I agree with the comment that regardless of what happenst to MSFT, its a great investment. Just too much of their stuff out there for them to go into oblivion, even if the do split up. |
