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To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (15991)	1/10/1998 1:12:00 PM
From: micromike	Respond to of 24154

BILL GATES, ROBBER BARON businessweek.com Thus it is more than a little ironic that the very emblem of the computer age, Microsoft Corp., is placing its clumsy thumb on the scale of this elegant equilibrium. Like monopolists of a century ago, Microsoft has observed that if you can capture enough market share, three large benefits accrue. First, you can scare off, drive out, or gobble up competitors. This conveniently gives you even more market share. Second, your monopoly in one key area of the business (in this case the ubiquitous Windows operating system) facilitates market power in other key product lines, such as word processing and Internet access. And third, of course, comes the reward: With market power, you can jack up prices that captive consumers must pay. Somehow, this cyber-platform, on which the entire Internet free market rests, is not quite self-correcting after all. ---

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (15991)	1/10/1998 4:07:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 24154

Finally stepping out of Microsoft's shadow, Intel expands its presence infoworld.com This is background, in case anybody hasn't notice of late Intel's been keeping the channels open to the other side, Sun and Oracle most visibly. They also got some alternatives in the works on Bill's grand convergence scheme. Which is, of course, good thinking on Andy Grove's part. Bill's going to benefit from cheap PC's due to Intel having an element of competition for the time being, but I imagine the Intel guys sort of noticed it took Bill 10 years to ship a 32 bit OS for their 32 bit processors, too. Cheers, Dan.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (15991)	1/10/1998 5:17:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Microsoft needs to fix its antitrust problems soon infoworld.com This one sort of speaks to the issue of those "nonexistant" secret APIs, and other stuff too. Our readers' desperate pounce on any tidbit of useful Microsoft insider information reminded us of our own struggles with Microsoft's technology and the sometimes frustrating lack of information about key components of the Windows architecture. It also made us think a little about Microsoft's recent contretemps with the Department of Justice. Microsoft officials often wonder publicly what their company did wrong to deserve the negative attention in the press and legal circles. We saw one reason in the e-mail flood we received seeking -- begging for -- answers to just one of the many riddles of the Windows platform. Before people can like Microsoft, they have to like Microsoft's products. And before they can like Microsoft's products, they need to understand how they work. All the wealth being stockpiled by the multitude of Windows consultants out there is no match for the loyalty of a billion end-users with a reliable and easily accessible place to go for help. Until then, do not -- repeat, do not -- send your Windows questions to the Test Center. Even our monthly stipend from Microsoft doesn't guarantee them favorable product reviews, let alone free technical support. And that's the problem I've got with the whole "browser/OS" integration line. Maybe it's true, who knows? But, I think beyond the comprension of those outside the sacred inner circle just isn't going to cut it in this matter, when that's part of the problem to begin with. The world's supposed to rely on the 14m lines in Windows 95, and the 27m lines in Windows NT, for all its future computing needs, knowing no more about the internals than what Microsoft chooses to say? Which, in turn is dictated more by "standard business practice" than sound technical reasons? Sorry, it just doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I also very much doubt it will hold up in court. Cheers, Dan.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (15991)	1/11/1998 7:31:00 AM
From: Charles Hughes	Respond to of 24154

ipmag.com Good link. BTW, this is another guy writing about the positive-feedback concept in markets (among other things), which describes a process which can keep better solutions and competition from arising. And has been obvious for many years (decades) in the computer business that you could manipulate the market this way, but only lately has this moved into the general discussion of inefficient markets that is growing in volume now. I think only now are economists and lawyers catching on to what technology wiseguys have known forever. Chaz