Re: Boycott Microsoft Website

From: Chris Lomont <clomont@omni.cc.purdue.edu>

Date: Thu, 20 Mar 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft bashers need to do some homework. Microsoft is about a 10
billion a year company, much smaller than software companies like CA and
associates. Microsoft is not a huge financial power - look at revenues
from AT&T, IBM, GM, Chase Manhattan banks, etc, all of which are an order
of magnitude bigger than Microsoft.

Microsoft is not a monoply - they control about 50% of the PC markets
software. PC market, although big, is not all software, and 50% is no
where near the legal definition of a monoply. Again look at Intel chip
coverage, AT&T phone service, your local electricity providers (100%
coverage).

Also, Microsoft does not make license agreements that any competetive
company wouldn't do if given the opportunity.

The software industry is growing like the car industry 100 years ago.
There were 100+ car companies around the turn of the century, and over
time they were assimilated or closed leavig only a few big ones left in
the US. If you wanted to make a new car company, you would be hard
pressed. As the software industry matures, it is natural to have a few
big players and very few others. Every industry (electric, phone, car,
financial, appliances) has grown in such a pattern.

So please stop whining, do something useful instead of trying to tear
down a successful company, and deal with reality.

Chris Lomont

P.S. I am not a Microsoft supporter, but I realize that this is the way
the business operates. Everyone just wants all this space to operate and
make lots of software, but it is simple economics and history to see that
the industry will become controlled by a few superpowers.

Which of you has the clout to build a 2 billion dollar fab plant and make
Pentium chips, or the staff to develop apps with the breadth of power
like Office Suite, NT, or Visual C++ 5.0? The days of garage shop
software are limited, and big releases mean big bucks to develop,
support, and market. That's life....

References

Boycott Microsoft Website
Jack Teh <jteh@usthk.ust.hk>
Thu, 20 Mar 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Boycott Microsoft Website
Jack Teh <jteh@usthk.ust.hk>
Thu, 20 Mar 1997 00:00:00 +0000