Re: Open Letter to Ralph Nader Appraising the Nader Conference

Mark Baker (markb@iosphere.net)
Thu, 13 Nov 1997 21:37:35 -0500 (EST)


On Thu, 13 Nov 1997, Joe Barrera wrote:
> ... from Microsoft COO Bob Herbold

Gee, thanks Bob. Now I know who's attending, and all their previously
unknown biases. I don't suppose you'd care to actually address the
issues, eh?

> Rick Ross is a
> representative of the Java Lobby, which is a mouthpiece for Sun.

Yeah, they're all out to get you Bob. It's a big conspiracy. Those
10000 Java users who pledged support for Sun were all coerced.

> Yet Microsoft, though the most visible company in the industry, accounts for
> only 1 percent of total information technology industry revenues of $1.1
> trillion. We account for less than 4 percent of total software industry
> revenues of $250 billion. Microsoft is not even the largest software company
> - $13 billion of IBM's $75 billion in revenues is in software, compared to
> our $11 billion.

I think this is known in the vernacular as "reaching". My sister might
fall for it. *Might*.

No, on second thought, she wouldn't. But my dog might. *Might*.

> As a consumer advocate, you know that any dialogue on competition needs to
> be focused on the consumer. When companies complain about the vigor of
> competition, that is typically a sign that they are having difficulty
> keeping up with the pace of innovation or remaining profitable in the face
> of declining prices.

Yeah, that's it. Nevermind the predatory tactics, per-processor
licensing, API "tweaking", etc. ad nauseum. Nope, they're just whining.

Now, if you want something actually useful and information-full, (unlike
this piece of tripe), check out MSFT's 48 page response to the DOJ;

http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/#doj

MB