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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RON BL who wrote (458172)	9/13/2003 1:01:48 AM
From: Richard S	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Windows may become public domain one day. I don't think that day has arrived. I do believe that as part of the settlement with the government Microsoft was required to make its operating system more open, thus inviting more competition from companies such as Apple and RedHat(Linux) among others. Microsoft is not just in the operating system business, as Oracle is not just in the database business. Microsoft already has managed to steal much of Oracle database code as it did when it stole Windows from Apple computer. Yes, companies that are monopolies do make more money. I learned that in competing with BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO. However, the point of the Anti-trust laws is to regulate and control the monopolies so they do not get out of hand. The software industry is a very tricky example, however, because the code always changes, it never stays the same. So what is ten products one day, can become five products, four products or one product a couple year later (i.e. packaging).