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March 26, 2004
Microsoft Gets Its Due, Finally
Like so many in the tech industry, except those who actually work for Microsoft, I'm delighted at EEU's recent anti-trust ruling against Microsoft. Microsoft abuses its monopoly in operating systems to limit innovation and competition in software applications. The NY Times quoted Steven Balmer saying, "We believe that every company should have the ability to improve its products to meet the needs of consumers." True, but not if that "product improvement" is a a bundling strategy that stacks the deck against all other software providers.
Steve's statement further reads, "Our research shows that a majority, a very broad majority, of European consumers believe that Windows Media Player should be included with Windows." This is reminiscent of past statements that most consumers didn't want Microsoft to be broken up. Of course the research will show these sentiments. Most consumers have no idea what they are missing because Microsoft's approach never gives them a reason to try anything different. Microsoft's historical bad bad monopolist behavior put hundreds of software companies out of business and severly limited incentive for innovation. We live in a Microsoft world because of blatantly illegal actions over several years by Microsoft to crush its perceived competitors. What surprises me is how supportive the Wall St Journal editors are of Microsoft's position. I would think the WSJ's ultraconservative editorialists would be promoting competition. Perhaps their distance from Silicon Valley, and their attachment to Microsoft's stock value, have kept them uninformed of the true damage MS has done to the tech industry over the years. The good news is that with the rise of open source software, the world is not reliant on MS for their servers to function. Here is where Microsoft's hegemony is really being challenged.
Posted by elise on March 26, 2004 to Business Commentary
| Comments (3)
Comments
I've been M$ free for a little over 2 years now and am *so* thankful that I am. I'm in a whole -new- world now. ;-)
Open source is indeed a good thing!
Posted by: Fred Alan at March 31, 2004 4:25 PM
"What surprises me is how supportive the Wall St Journal editors are of Microsoft's position."
Perhaps it's because they employe writers who actually understand economics, instead of overly emotional left-wing self-perceived technocrats who can't think for themselves.
If everyone in the world were forced to use Linux, they'd realize how much of an alternative it ISN'T.
Hop on the bandwagon, it's time to hate Microsoft!
Posted by: Agent M at April 1, 2004 8:35 AM
Ooo. It looks like my snipe at Microsoft hit a nerve. Funny this comment is. My San Francisco friends would falling off their chairs if they heard that someone had called me "overly emotional left wing". "Not understanding economics"? Perhaps. Perhaps the rules of economics have changed in the last 17 years since I received my MBA from Stanford. I don't think so though. The economics of monopoly power are pretty clear and have seem to have held up over time.
I don't hate Microsoft. I use their products (though often miss the ones that Microsoft took over and crushed). I have many friends who made millions there and are now investing in companies that I help. After 18 years in the tech industry I, like many of my colleagues, have learned to be cautious of our friends in Redmond. There's a saying here - don't get too successful or Microsoft will decide to get into your business, and when they do, you're dead. So, Microsoft is like that 800 lb guerilla sitting in the corner that you just can't ignore.
My concern about the WSJ editorialists has to do with just that - those who write the editorials. They really do come across as ultra-conservative at times, unlike the writing in the rest of the paper to which I subscribe, both in paper and online, and read religiously. Sometimes this perspective I find useful, especially in contrast with the sometimes overly liberal NY Times editorials. But then sometimes I find their perspective unfathomable.
I have had indepth conversations with well educated successful people who didn't want to see Microsoft suffer because they didn't want to see their MS stock go down, regardless of how damaging MS's actions were to the overall industry. I've got to believe that the Bush administration's pull-back on the penalties had to do with fear of disrupting the economy if they hit MS too hard. This is a fair concern, but the penalty that had been on the table at one time was a complete break up of the company. What the EEU had decided isn't that, but a more stringent approach to the bundling of their software with their OS.
Posted by: elise at April 1, 2004 9:24 AM
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