Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : MSFT Internet Explorer vs. NSCP Navigator -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gerald R. Lampton who wrote (19817)	5/29/1998 11:58:00 AM
From: Thure Meyer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Gerald, Will get back to you on your last post. In order to respond I have to read the Margolis stuff which I found at the Cato Institute. They also have an article on anti-trust cato.org Draw your own conclusions. I think I will approach this discussion a bit differently. I have kind of ad-libbed so far based on my memory. I will try to make some of my amorphous statements a little more defined. Will try to work on it this weekend. The good news for me is that it is forcing me to look at original sources (although I don't have a law library at my disposal). Thure

To: Gerald R. Lampton who wrote (19817)	5/29/1998 1:54:00 PM
From: Thure Meyer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

"To me, the DOJ's complaint reads almost as if the internet didn't exist. " I downloaded the complaint and started reading it. Are we reading from the same document? The first 10 pages are an explicit discussion of the Internet and browsers. The whole complaint is based on MS using unfair practices to leverage its dominance on the desktop to internet software. As to the question of path dependence being a surrogate for efficiency and the claim that a] path dependence doesn't exist or b] if it does we can prove that MS is a natural monopoly. I'll get back to you on that. Suffice it to say I read Margolis and don't find the argument very convincing. Thure

To: Gerald R. Lampton who wrote (19817)	5/31/1998 3:11:00 AM
From: Charles Hughes	Respond to of 24154

>>>Not being able to switch is definitely a barrier, but it's related to efficiency, not some external factor, like law, for example. <<< Usually a big factor is local conventional wisdom. Habit. 'Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM', or so they used to say. Of course in most countries kickbacks are a big factor, too. That tends to favor the biggest player, naturally. Baksheesh, y'know? When IBM wanted to sell a lot of PCs and mainframes to Bank of America, they started by buying a lot of Bank of America stock. Then we ended up with micro channel up the wazoo. Not efficient at all. They kept sales reps on site in offices we 'gave' them. Nice of us, huh? Ciao, Chaz