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FTC Opens Formal Antitrust Investigation of Intel
andy1307 writes to tell us that according to the New York Times, The Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation of Intel. Reversing the decision of former FTC chairperson Deborah P. Majoras, the new chair William E. Kovacic is pushing the investigation to look into Intel's pricing policies. "Since it will almost certainly be many months before the commission decides whether to make a case against Intel, as European and Asian regulators have already done, the investigation could mark an important early test for the next administration on antitrust and competition policy."
Having a large portion of the market isn't necessarily a monopoly. I don't think Intel is really that close to having a monopoly. As someone else said, everyone else has more or less cloned Intel ... I don't think Intel should be punished for making a good product that no one else has competed with yet. But, I realize this isn't really about a monopoly, it seems... unfair business practices, should probably be looked into.
That said, IMO, there's a huge thing nowadays to be anti-big-corporation... but when it comes to me wanting to go buy a chip, I usually will buy the best quality at the cheapest price, right? Nobody goes out of their way to spend more. With big corporations usually comes cheaper prices... it's a hard balance to make sure there isn't a monopoly or unfair business practices without seriously meddling with the basic idea of a free market...
Nice... did your new CPU render .jpgs correctly?