Hi Norm,
A:>>I also think that the intellectual property rights that MSFT uses to its advantage need to be overhauled. I think anyone should be able to sell anything they can copy/modify, bwdik?
N: Those seem to be the intellectual property rights that MSFT uses already.
Cheers,
Norm
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You're twisting my words. TDNBW.... <g>
My position is that intellectual property is not as sacred as people make it out to be. If that legal mess were unraveled, there would be no need for antitrust here.
A case in point is a figure I came across a few years ago... there had been something like 10,000 copies of MSFT Access sold in China but there were 250,000 copies in use.
Instead of getting down on those "terrible pirates," I say that MSFT's sofware is obviously too expensive. They should compete with the pirates by undercutting them in the marketplace.... either I'm a fool (which is quite possible) or none of these companies understands economies of scale... MSFT and the clone makers seem to have the best idea of this so far.
Getting back to China, do you think the government there:
1) would work with MSFT to eradicate the "problem"
2) would stand by and look the other way as the pirates worked
3) would be involved in the pirate trade
...just some food for thought.
...other points I have are that Sun has always charged, and continues to charge, too much for their products. Their stuff isn't even that easy to use is it?
Microsoft's stuff "sucks less" for the average consumer.
The BeOS sounds very interesting. My understanding is that they were just in Redmond, trying to get MSFT to write Office for their platform. About Be, I still have to ask, "is there a guy on the MSFT board of directors who also owns 51% of Be?"
That seems relevant to me as well, bwdik?
FWIW
Andy |
