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Countering the Arguments Against Unbundling Windows
An anonymous reader sends in a link to a blog posting by Con Zymaris arguing for competition regulators to force the unbundling of Windows from consumer PCs. The argument takes the form of knocking down one by one the objections raised by "unbundling skeptics."
It hasn't. Silly people who either have suffered a sharp blow to the head rendering their long-term memory of Microsoft's conviction as an abusive monopoly, or who are simply not sufficiently intellectually potent to understand what that means make retarded statements like that.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
There's one flaw in your analogy - the quality of the software available in the average linux distro is superior to that produced by Microsoft. Microsoft will never again be able to catch up in the quality department.
There's a second flaw in your analogy - Microsoft doesn't manufacture PCs, so why should anyone who wants to compete with them at any level bog themselves down by doing so?
There's a third flaw in your analogy - that those of us who back a gift economy or a pay-it-forward economy are "rationalizing a fear of competing with Microsoft." Its possible to earn a living by giving away your code - businesses such as IBM (who are a lot bigger than Microsoft) have figured that out. Its just too bad that Microsoft can't compete by giving away code and then charging for services. They're not set up that way, and that's their biggest problem.
Now my giving away a few hard drives with linux preinstalled is not "bad for Linux co". They don't "lose promotional hard drives" - first, because there is no such thing as "Linux co", and second, because they were not their hard drives to begin with. To the extent that this creates a larger potential market, it still benefits your hypothetical "Linux co.", so its certainly not a drain on the economy. Or are you going to argue that all the companies who give away free promotional samples are wrong?
Then we'll be hearing about how the "evil convicted monopolist" is hampering their sales
What sales? These people are "too good" to get out there and sell. Instead, they'll argue that they should just have a tax to do what they want. Yawn, classically liberal.
Vista is an atomic bomb with a slow fuse. When it goes off, there will be no linux left.
This is my sig.
These companies, or their representatives, are welcome to offer Dell, et al, deals for loading their OS in place of Windows. Whether you like Windows or not, it does offer value to consumers who want to purchase a computer. So far, Linux, et al, have not been able to prove they have the same value. Forcing computer manufacturers to cripple their product for a minority group of people at best is ridiculous. Prove your OS has more value then Windows and the rest will fall into place. Here's a hint though, anecdotal evidence won't cut it.