What if the government had not dropped the IBM antitrust action in the 80's and broke up IBM into separate pieces? Looking back, were they a true monopoly? Would have it seemed foolish today to have broke them up?
I suspect we look at issues like this with a very short time frame in mind, too short to make proper judgements. Time took care of IBM, time will take care of Microsoft. I acknowledge that real companies and real people have been hurt by their predatory actions but can action now a) change the past b) happen fast enough to matter?
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What if the government had not dropped the IBM antitrust action in the 80's and broke up IBM into separate pieces? Looking back, were they a true monopoly? Would have it seemed foolish today to have broke them up?
I suspect we look at issues like this with a very short time frame in mind, too short to make proper judgements. Time took care of IBM, time will take care of Microsoft. I acknowledge that real companies and real people have been hurt by their predatory actions but can action now a) change the past b) happen fast enough to matter?