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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Duane L. Olson who wrote (32817)	11/7/1999 10:12:00 PM
From: cheryl williamson	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74651

Duane, I was suggesting that PC operating systems should be in the public domain because PC hardware is in the public domain. This would take away the DOJ argument that MSFT was a monopoly because they couldn't, by definition, participate in such questionable activities as product tying or predatory pricing if all they published and sold were applications software for the pc. If the OS were standardized, and the API's were published and available to all developers, free of charge, everyone is protected from being muscled out of the market. MSFT already has a running head start on PC apps makers, anyway, so it wouldn't really hurt them that much. But they WOULD have to improve product quality to stay competitive. I don't see a role for the government, except, perhaps, to oversee the xfer of all MSFT control over their operating systems to a maintaining entity. What would be even better, IMO, would be for MSFT to publish all their source and API's, maintain the OS to the published standards, and give away the OS for free. That would have the same effect. It seems to me that if MSFT wanted to settle this whole case in a "fair and equitable" manner, that they would offer to do this. I really can't see a downside for anyone. Can you?? cheers, cherylw