RE: [ reactions ] Re: [NYT] Microsoft Is Set to Be Top Foe of Free Code

From: John Hall (johnhall@evergo.net)
Date: Thu May 03 2001 - 20:13:47 PDT


Money doesn't effect the fairness of a fair fight in the Market, it is part
of making it fair.

Gaming the system, as illustrated, involves introducing non-market players
like the government.

Give an example of an area where you have a legitimate fear of not being
able to do a legitimate task
with software you develop or get from an OSS group. Something that doesn't
involve violating other people's
security systems.

From: Bill Humphries [mailto:bill@whump.com]

Hence, the large firm (who could afford the expensive technology) was able
to forclose the smaller competitors (who couldn't) and enjoy a monopoly on
resource extraction (where the monopoly rents would had more than covered
the addtional costs.)

This is something that Harold Desmets of the Chicago School pointed out in
the 60's and 70's, that you can game the system.

So I can see a situation where MS (or Oracle, or Sun...) would go in and do
a similar game playing with requirements.

Again, that's not a problem. But if I don't want to buy a commerical licence
for a package to do some task, I don't want to be forbidden to use an OSS
package or build my own to do the same thing.

-- Bill



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