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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (2264)	10/8/2000 7:41:57 PM
From: Snowshoe	Respond to of 12245

>>I am sure that companies, probably including Microsoft, will use other people's ideas if they can. They might even hold meetings on the pretext of mergers but really just wanting to find out about what's going on there. I doubt that is illegal and it is of course a voluntary assocation. So I don't see a need for legal intervention.<< As I recall, it was alleged that Microsoft directly stole the other company's code (which was obtained during the merger talks), and then secretly added it MSFT products. Sorry I don't have the link or the details. >>It sounds as though your father should have sold off the unprofitable business anyway, irrespective of anti-trust laws.<< That part of the business became unprofitable because of the competitor. The alternative, which was rejected on the advice of my father's lawyer, was to use monopoly advantage in one sector to undercut the price in the other sector and drive the competitor out of business. Sort of like Microsoft trying to "extinguish Netscape's oxygen supply". This is illegal, and any small-town lawyer could have explained this to Gates if he had bothered to listen.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (2264)	10/8/2000 8:07:11 PM
From: Peter J Hudson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12245

Maurice, Your defense of microsoft and vilification of the department of justice doesn't make sense. $ill Gates used tremendous economic power to control the software industry for many years. Microsoft has not fostered innovation, in fact they stifled competition and swallowed those that competed successfully. Maurice, I share your dislike for the justice department interfering with free enterprise, but there has to be a control on folks like $ill. If Microsoft had been curbed earlier we would have better cheaper OS and associated software. This is not a case where the DOJ is out of control. It is a case where they took action too late. If you think the DOJ and Ms. Reno are out of control, site other similar actions they are taking against big business. $ill was warned and he thumbed his nose at them. Love the lamb! Free trade! Pete