Interesting thoughts, Larry. But let me tell you about a court case awhile back. There was this small company called Ben & Jerry's which was making some really good ice cream. Problem was that sales were going so well that the ice cream pints which they had pioneered started showing up right next to ice cream from another, larger vendor named Haagen Daaz. Now HD didn't like that at all. So they promptly called up all the retail outlets and told them in no uncertain terms that if those outlets dared resell Ben & Jerry's, they'd lose the lucrative Haagen Daaz account.
So, intimidated as they were, the outlets told Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's, "Sorry we can't sell your ice cream anymore." Well Ben was a true man of the 60's and sued the living daylights out of Haagen Daaz, and HE WON!
So, my friend, the point is that FAIR competition is what a free market is all about. If MSFT plays fair, fine by me, but if they haven't been, then someone needs to stop them. I personally believe that IE is superior to Netscape. IE is all I use. Also, I would never dream of using another O/S. In fact, I like MSFT so much, it is my biggest holding. But I'm not in love with the company to the extent that I would trash other companies' rights to a fair fight.
If you want to keep talking about this, I have plenty more to say. If the rest of you don't want to hear it, we can move this discussion off-thread. Comments appreciated, Larry. |
