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To: Time Traveler who wrote (56245)	5/29/1998 5:08:00 PM
From: gnuman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

TT, re: <<As a consumer, one gets IE for free. How can this hurt the consumers? FOR FREE!>> Well, one way is by stifling innovation. I read recently that Venture Capital is drying up for any software that might be targeted by Microsoft. MSFT has probably hurt a lot of companies by bundling applications with Windows. Some that come to mind are Netscape, Lotus and WordPerfect. MS Works provides many of the functions of 123 and WP, and these app's are sufficient for many people. And I think Excel and Word copied many of the features developed by Lotus and WordPerfect. They certainly are compatible with each other. Do you think that IE would be nearly as successful if wasn't bundled with Windows? Netscape put a lot of time and resources into the development of their browser. The potential market is in the hundreds of millions of units, (if you believe AG's prediction of a billion connected PC's). At $45.00 a pop this would have created a lot of wealth. And not just for shareholders, but everyone in the sales/distribution channel. Would there have been VC available if it were known going in that MSFT would bundle IE with Windows? And if there weren't a Netscape what would be the status of web browsers today? And I'm not sure that IE is free. The cost of Windows has gone up over time. Win95 upgrade is still $98.00, (up from about $45.00 for Win3.1), and the projected price of the Win98 upgrade is over $100. So, I think the consumer can be hurt if bundling app's with the OS stifles innovation and causes the drying up of development capital.