On 11/17/05, Susheel Daswani sdaswani@boalthall.berkeley.edu wrote:
I plan to use your answers for no other purpose than educating my professor on what, alas, *could* have been done to help restore competition to the personal desktop OS market.
Hello,
The only real remedy to the Microsoft Monopoly would be if Federal, State, Provinces & Local Governments of this planet to mandate the use of true OSS software. There is a small movement in Massachusetts to move to OpenDoc but im afraid Microsoft has already used it influence in this matter.
Please see : http://www.consortiuminfo.org/newsblog/blog.php?ID=1745
There is however hope that millions may be given the chance to see what a world looks like without being beholden to the BORG! I'm sure Bill & company have some grand ideas on how they can derail this train as well, but it looks bright at the moment. :-)
Watch the Webcast here : http://laptop.media.mit.edu/news.html
The short answer of how to restore the competition to the personal desktop OS market is for the people of this country to elect a real president, a visionary like Theodore Roosevelt.
In 1906, at the behest (promise) of Roosevelt, the Justice Department filed suit, charging that Standard engaged in monopoly practices by attempting to control trading and commerce in petroleum and its by-products, thus setting the stage for the first titanic battle between government and big business.
A decision was handed down against the company by a Missouri circuit court in 1909. Shades of Microsoft and Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller himself testified in a "well-rehearsed performance but to no avail." [Charles Geisst]. The court ordered the breakup of the trust. Standard immediately appealed to the Supreme Court but lost.
http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2000/standard_oil2.html
Tom