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To: John F. Dowd who wrote (17576)	2/20/1998 10:08:00 AM
From: John Donahoe	Respond to of 24154

The TRUTH is revealed. redherring.com "And since none of the evils associated with classical monopolies--high prices, bad products, diminished entrepreneurialism--accompany the honestly won technology monopoly, the government should relax and let people have what they want. By and large, Microsoft is good for us." Thanks for the article JFD JD

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (17576)	2/20/1998 10:27:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 24154

A simmering dispute economist.com Bill's (former?) favorite mag weighs in on the Sun vs. Microsoft and the war on Java. A fairly judicious article, with some interesting observations about the way Java use is tending, i.e. the much dreaded "bloated middleware" layer for legacy apps. Turning the old "rip and replace" company line on its head, as I pointed out long ago. And a nice conclusion: This unexpected use of Java is one reason why Microsoft might undermine it, as Sun claims in its suit. Companies cobbling together their existing systems are less likely to buy new servers running Windows NT, the big brother of the Windows95 operating system. Another is the Java-based mini operating systems for devices such as smart phones, TV set-top boxes and hand-held computers, which are proving stiff competition to Windows CE, Microsoft's scaled-down operating system for the consumer market. While the Windows lock on the PC desktop looks as secure as ever, Java could spoil Microsoft's "Windows Everywhere" strategy. Whether Java fully lives up to its promise depends also on Sun. Some developers criticise it for putting more energy into talking Java up than improving its performance. Others worry that, despite applying for Java to be certified as an official technical standard, Sun wants tight control over its baby as it grows up. It wants to be the next Microsoft, they grumble. However, that seems rather far-fetched. Sun is no less energetic than Microsoft in pursuit of its own interests, but as things stand, those interests lie in recruiting as many Java disciples as it can. And that means keeping Java open. A suitable rebuttal to Sal's old "Java is a fraud" line, if I must say so myself. Though it's not necessary, I'll add another old line of mine, from a competitive standpoint, 2 bloated middleware OSs are better than one. Cheers, Dan. P.S. Mr. Dowd, also a judicious post on your part, I appreciate the polite tone. The Red Herring article has been noted here before, by another (hopefully former) ad hominem artist, one J.P., in msg 17470. In partial rebuttal, I note that the herring piece somehow manages to turn the whole "network externalities" theory into an exoneration, even glorification of Microsoft, like most things I've seen written about it. In contrast, note Antitrust For Libertarians, techweb.com , which refers to a New Yorker article about Brian Arthur, apparently the originator of the theory. Strange that you read more about the revisionist version of the theory than the original interpretation, I guess that just shows Microsoft's political naivete on the academic front.