Suggestion for Breaking Microsoft's Monopoly

S

socrtwo

What does everybody think about breaking Microsoft's monopoly by the
government requiring Microsoft to make Windows and MS Office open
source? Or maybe even all it's programs open source?

This would force them to be come a service company and stop raking in
the oppressive amounts of money.
 
T

Tr.

socrtwo said:
What does everybody think about breaking Microsoft's monopoly by the
government requiring Microsoft to make Windows and MS Office open
source? Or maybe even all it's programs open source?

This would force them to be come a service company and stop raking in
the oppressive amounts of money.

I wondered where 'Dumbest Possible Idea of the Day' was coming from -
and I found it :)
 
L

Luis Cobian

socrtwo said:
What does everybody think about breaking Microsoft's monopoly by the

Monopoly? Nobody forces you, please use something else. You are not going
to jail for that. It's legal you know.
Or maybe even all it's programs open source?

No, please, we already have Linux for the masochists <g> :)
 
E

Eugene Esterly III

socrtwo said:
What does everybody think about breaking Microsoft's monopoly by the
government requiring Microsoft to make Windows and MS Office open
source? Or maybe even all it's programs open source?

This would force them to be come a service company and stop raking in
the oppressive amounts of money.

The case against Microsoft was thrown out years ago because the judge
was biased & was going to convict Microsoft anyway.

If you don't like that your comp has Windows, then delete it & go with
another OS such as Linux, et al.

A company such as Microsoft doesn't have to release their prog's as
Open Source if they don't want to & the gov't has no case against them.
 
P

prospero33

Microsoft holds copyrights to its code, as it should. Do you want
publishers to have to give away their books, musicians not to collect
royalties?
Maybe you do, but intellectual property is property.
I don't like Windows either (I'm using Linux), but I'm not for stealing.
 
J

jimpgh2002

What does everybody think about breaking Microsoft's monopoly by the
government requiring Microsoft to make Windows and MS Office open
source? Or maybe even all it's programs open source?
I think it's a dumb idea...beyond dumb, actually.
This would force them to be come a service company and stop raking in
the oppressive amounts of money.

Nobody is forced to buy Microsoft products.
 
T

Terry Russell

socrtwo said:
What does everybody think about breaking Microsoft's monopoly by the
government requiring Microsoft to make Windows and MS Office open
source? Or maybe even all it's programs open source?

Wouldn't matter, lawyers would still tie it up with proprietary formats so
you need the appropriately licensed software to read what people send you.
This would force them to be come a service company and stop raking in
the oppressive amounts of money.

Actually XP is pretty good value, provided you can get it at other than the
first release retail price. The main reason people who pay use windows is
so that when they get a phonecall from a friend/relative/other user
saying their software is broken the local guru doesn't have to try and
remember or deduce which of the 427 different OS/editor combinations
the user has, they can narrow it down to about 16.

The only thing is that after having thousands of people working
for a couple of decades
and billions and billions and billions and billions
and billions and billions and billions and billions
and billions and billions and billions and billions
and billions and billions and billions and billions
....a lot of lines
and billions and billions and billions and billions
and billions and billions and billions and billions
of dollars , Windows is pretty much in a position to 'be all it can be'

This is it, this is as good as it gets.
 
A

Al Klein

What does everybody think about breaking Microsoft's monopoly by the
government requiring Microsoft to make Windows and MS Office open
source? Or maybe even all it's programs open source?
This would force them to be come a service company and stop raking in
the oppressive amounts of money.

This would also render the concept of "trade secrets" meaningless. If
you don't know enough about business and economics to understand what
this would mean, do a web search on "Australopithecus". He had no
trade secrets either.
 
A

Anonymous

the
government requiring Microsoft to make Windows and MS Office open
source? Or maybe even all it's programs open source?

The problem is that Microsoft holds copyrights and various other legal
protections on their software.

The government *CAN* just walk into the Redmond offices and demand that
MS make all of its software open source and non-proprietary, but the
legal consequences would be rather staggering. If the federal
government were to do that, hundreds of other companies (vendors and
retailers of Microsoft products) would join forces with other
commercial interests (any company in the Fortune 1000 that doesn't want
the government to force them to give away their trade secrets), and the
legal battle would wage-on for decades. It would be like a Godzilla
movie, where the two biggest monsters fight for supremacy and the local
population runs for their lives.

Plus the horrible news coverage during an election year...no politician
would agree to that.

The government DID already sue and convict MS back in the 90's for
various and asundry crimes. As of this date, I don't recall MS ever
paying any of those fines or doing anything more than flipping the
middle finger to the federal government.
 
S

socrtwo

I still think the government should force them to do it. You
overestimate the power of the company and underestimate a determined
just group of judges. As for intellectual property, I'm supposing that
Microsoft has done so many illegal things by now, that punitive damages
would justify the actions.

As to being dumb, Jesus and Solomon recommended being dumb, you are
happier and get more things accomplished. It's not by coincidence that
the word "know" sounds exactly like "no". "Knowing" things is learning
the faithless human perceptions of the limitations of our lives and the
universe around us.

It would be a good thing if Windows and Office became public property.
 
B

Barney

It would be a good thing if Windows and Office became public property.
As long as you, as a member of the public is willing to pay for it. I'm
sure you have the dollars to keep developing it. Certainly non users
will not be required for the continued use of MS products. The rest of
the "open source" OS had to get their copy from some where to
start.Perhaps they had a way to get a copy from the net without a OS to
begin with. There is already an open source for an "office" alternative
but I assume you think the MS version is better.
 
L

Luis Cobian

socrtwo said:
Microsoft has done so many illegal things by now, that punitive damages
would justify the actions.

The should walk into the White House first and punish your president if we
are talking about illegal things.
A little persective here, please.
 
D

DaveH

socrtwo said:
I still think the government should force them to do it. You
overestimate the power of the company and underestimate a determined
just group of judges. As for intellectual property, I'm supposing that
Microsoft has done so many illegal things by now, that punitive damages
would justify the actions.

As to being dumb, Jesus and Solomon recommended being dumb, you are
happier and get more things accomplished. It's not by coincidence that
the word "know" sounds exactly like "no". "Knowing" things is learning
the faithless human perceptions of the limitations of our lives and the
universe around us.

It would be a good thing if Windows and Office became public property.


socrtwo,
You need to study your history. MS has been tried and convicted of having a
monopoly. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars to convict
Microsoft, our illustrious president took office, appointed John Ashcroft as
Attorney General and proceeded to effectively drop the case. And we reelect
him - go figure!

Dave H.
 
D

Daniel Mandic

Al said:
This would also render the concept of "trade secrets" meaningless. If
you don't know enough about business and economics to understand what
this would mean, do a web search on "Australopithecus". He had no
trade secrets either.


It is the antecessor of an even more dumb Ape-human (pre-homo), who did
not invent new tools for a period of 1.000,000 years :). That reminds
me to a big cluster of states without a proper constitution and their
behaviouer for things which bring nothing at all. Supercomputer and
pre-calculationss... forget that sh....

Just when Indians come in a bit (Apache, Indianapolis etc..), then it
gets at least useful, powerful and resource-saving.




Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic
 
D

Daniel Mandic

socrtwo said:
It would be a good thing if Windows and Office became public property.


It is.

You just have to pay the ticket. Or do you drive with rail, sending
Mail, speak by telephone and so on without paying?
 
B

badgolferman

What does everybody think about breaking Microsoft's monopoly by the
government requiring Microsoft to make Windows and MS Office open
source? Or maybe even all it's programs open source?

This would force them to be come a service company and stop raking in
the oppressive amounts of money.

If this happened then Bill Gates could not be the most charitable
person on Earth as he is now. Will you pick up the slack?
 
T

Terry Russell

Daniel Mandic said:
It is.

You just have to pay the ticket. Or do you drive with rail, sending
Mail, speak by telephone and so on without paying?

One weeks groceries $A150.
Ask a farmer how much they make on that $8 pack of hamburger.
If food was free, everyone would eat government mandated
tasteless gruel :)

For $A250 I can get a 1.8GHz P4 with XPPro...yet they sell the
_academic_ edition retail for $A100. Someones making a profit but
only a portion actually goes to MS.

The cost isn't in the software..unless you really need to
use a particular piece and insist on paying full retail.

socrtwo is right, it would be a very good thing for me
for about 3 minutes, then every PC would have Windows
and Office, and any possible development would rapidly dry up.
 
A

Anonymous

socrtwo,
You need to study your history. MS has been tried and convicted of having a
monopoly. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars to convict
Microsoft, our illustrious president took office, appointed John Ashcroft as
Attorney General and proceeded to effectively drop the case. And we reelect
him - go figure!

Dave H.

Hi Dave,

May I add a small correction here?

MS was tried and convicted during the Clinton administration, with
Janet Reno as the Attorney General, and she was famous for the Branch
Davidians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_Davidians) and the
Gonzales boy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elian_Gonzales).

Microsoft was ordered by the Federal judge(s) to remedy the
situation(s), and MS (figuratively) flipped the government their
collective middle finger and walked away laughing at the Federal court
and prosecutors.

President Bill Clinton did nothing to enforce the Federal order, and
Janet Reno found easier and less-expensive ways to get her name in the
newspapers.

Janet Reno spent those "hundreds of millions of dollars to convict
Microsoft," and then she did nothing to enforce the judge's order.

After the entire issue was long gone, THEN George Bush was elected to
the office of President and appointed John Ashcroft as the Attorney
General. Bush and Ashcroft have committed their share of sins---to be
sure---but refusing to enforce the Microsoft conviction was not one of
those sins. That responsibility was on the Clinton administration and
Janet Reno's Justice Department.

Has anyone noticed that we don't talk about the sins of the Clinton
years nearly as much as we talk about the sins of the Bush years?
 

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