Microsoft Hatred FAQ

[Mike Meyer]

Paul Rubin <http://phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> writes:

>>     Sorry to be pedantic, but I think it's an important point that no court 
>> ever found that Microsoft illegally acquired a monopoly. So to characterize 
>> the monopoly itself as "illegal" is simply erroneous.
>
> Who is paying you to tell these ridiculous crap?  The monopoly is illegal
> if maintained by anticompetitive means regardless of how it was acquired.
> From http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/msdoj/conclusions-l.html:
>
>    Section 2 of the Sherman Act declares that it is unlawful for a person
>    or  firm  to "monopolize . . . any part of the trade or commerce among
>    the  several  States,  or with foreign nations . . . ." 15 U.S.C. § 2.
>    This language operates to limit the means by which a firm may lawfully
>    either  acquire  or  perpetuate  monopoly  power. Specifically, a firm
>    violates  sec.  2  if  it  attains  or  preserves  monopoly power through
>    anticompetitive acts.
>
>    The threshold element of a  sec 2 monopolization offense being "the
>    possession of monopoly power in the relevant market...

Which means that the successful exercise of monopoly power is
sufficient to demonstrate the existence of a monopoly. A claim that
David Schwartz has never bothered to answer.

> David Schwartz, I have a direct question for you: are you on
> Microsoft's payroll?

I've noticed something strange that makes me wonder the same
thing. Everytime someone compares MS's behavior with that of any other
criminals, he responds about MS's activity being "equated to that of
criminals with guns", and refuses to discuss the issue. Ironically,
while no one else has so much as compared MS to criminals with guns -
after all, they're white collar criminals - David Schwartz called the
DOJ official who were investigating MS "criminals with guns pointed
out [MS officers] heads".

It seems like he's trying to avoid (further) tarnishing MS's
reputation by avoiding having MS associated with other criminals. You
have to wonder what could caause that kinnd of behavior.

     <mike
-- 
Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.