Not really. They are determined by market share, and the practices used to keep that share. It's not illegal to have a monopoly; it's just illegal to use certain practices to maintain it.
Microsoft's monopoly status has been upheld may times.
Ack.. right you are. Thanks for the catch. I knew I was missing something, but couldn't put my finger on it (and didn't have my copy of I, Robot handy, where The Three Laws are printed inside the cover).
Of course, I could have been talking about the modified Nestor units from Little Lost Robot...
That doesn't stop me from going to TelecomXX. It's every four years, and it's a blast to hang out in and around Geneva for a few weeks...
Telecom99 almost killed me as I was tagged as set-up, infrastructure support, tear-down, AND daily booth duty (swag distributor). On the plus side, however, I was in a state of culinary orgasm pretty much the entire time. It also didn't hurt that our booth was conveniently close to the ever-present Moet Chandon booth...
True. However, how many cable companies compete in an one metropolitan location? How many satellite ISPs are there?
That's besides the point, anyway. We're talking about competition on the last-mile copper pair that terminates in consumer households. The competition there isn't only DSL, but for local calling. IIRC, MCI (?) has already decided to stop offering local service to many areas on the heels of the FCC ruling.
We can go 'round and 'round with opinions, though. I'm going to wait to see how the price is affected. My prediction is that the consumer will be adversely affected.
Classic free market economics gave rise to the railroad monopolies, which gave rise to the Sherman Act. Surely you don't think monopolies are a good thing for innovation, competition, and hence consumers??
And what allowed the competition to traverse the last-mile lines? The regulation forcing the baby-Bells to give access to the competitors at wholesale rather than market rates.
Now that the last-mile price barrier has been removed, I expect to see prices increase.
The baby-Bells inherited a local monopoly. You can't very well take it away. But you can otherwise force them to allow for competition by forcing wholesale rates.
Your "Windows" analogy doesn't work at all. It actually proves my point, because Microsoft has a monopoly on consumer OS products, and has been allowed to keep it (despite overwhelming evidence of illegal predatory marketing practices).
And you don't think that price decrease is because the technology is pretty much ubiquitous and widely used? Sorry bub, but deregulation has exactly *zero* to do with the decreased price of broadband.
Just look what deregulation did for California's electricity customers...
Sorry, I should have stated that the "once a week" is just a loose average. Many times it would drop out a few times per day (once for the entire day).
The office is a mortgage broker, and most of the lending institutions have gone to on-line submissions. Having the business go off-line for a day (or towards the end of the day, near the deadline for loan approval submissions) can mean the difference between 1/4 and 1/2 percentage rate for a mortgage (which is "locked" at the time of initial loan approval). Rates change on a daily basis. This can cost the customer tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan, and can cost the broker a few thousand in terms of "points" he/she is able to charge for working the package (not to mention any possible rebates, which are spiffs from the lender to the broker).
Also, isn't Active Directory just LDAP with a bunch of MS-specific shit thrown on? Supposedly Evolution supports LDAP lookups, but I don't yet use that (and from what I've read, it isn't yet well integrated).
I use Evolution and I like it quite a bit. I haven't used the Connector because I don't need it, but Novell recently released it as free and Open Source (as opposed to the previous pay-for licensing).
If you think Michael Powell is deregulating to benefit the consumer, you're drinking too much of the Koo-aid...
That same FCC decision, IIRC, also allowed the local baby-Bells to charge whatever they want for access to their networks by other carriers. That effectively *destroys* competition for last-mile service.
I have yet to see a decrease in consumer prices in any such circumstance...
Does that mean I can expect a commensurate increase in the frequency of network outtages? I consult for an SBC (PacBell) customer. Most of the employees there also use PacBell DSL at home. Every one of them, including the business account, frequently drop off the 'Net for periods ranging from 5 to 45 minutes at least once per week. SBC-Yahoo-PacBell doesn't seem to see this as a problem.
It was also an exercise in frustration to get the business account (one of PacBell's first business DSL customers) switched from an all-copper-to-the-CO connection to a short copper run to the fiber BBox in the parking lot. The original line had been moved so far down the chain that the signal had degraded to the point that the SiNR was well below minimum service level. It had been this way for quite a while (before I started servicing this small office). It took me a year to diagnose (by working with the local technicians responding to my trouble tickets) and get PacBell to do anything about it. At the suggestion of one of the field techs I worked with, I actually had to drop the original account and sign up for "new" service (which would automatically be assigned a circuit routed through the fiber drop less than 100 meters from the customer).
PS: I've advised the customer to switch carriers, or at least get a dedicated line (so as to combine voice/data, solving a whole host of other issues) but the owner is a cheap-ass (who I know doesn't read Slashdot...) and doesn't want to "change email addresses".
Slashdot Mirror
Cool. I'll burn a flag in protest while firing my Mossberg into the air (and promptly get arrested for discharging a weapon in city limits...).
Not all "liberals" are anti-ownership of firearms.
I also don't remember the original Constitution saying anything about slavery (unless you're talking about Amendments 13-15).
But this is getting way offtopic, so I'm gonna shut down here.
...until Microsoft issues a FUDrelease claiming that Linux is supporting terrorism?
When you download distros, you're downloading al-Qaeda...
Unfortunately for you, the Constitution specifically protects my right to burn a flag if I so wish.
Jesus.. the JonBenet of the fitness world.
Not really. They are determined by market share, and the practices used to keep that share. It's not illegal to have a monopoly; it's just illegal to use certain practices to maintain it.
Microsoft's monopoly status has been upheld may times.
Oh my Christ.. I had forgotten about Lucky Starr... Probably on purpose.
Ack.. right you are. Thanks for the catch. I knew I was missing something, but couldn't put my finger on it (and didn't have my copy of I, Robot handy, where The Three Laws are printed inside the cover).
Of course, I could have been talking about the modified Nestor units from Little Lost Robot...
only after he's been fired.
Kinda brings a whole new meaning to the term "terminated"...
You have that kind of backwards (and wrong). The Asimovian rules are:
1. A robot must never harm a human being
2. A robot must follow a human being's orders, unless that conflicts with Rule #1
3. A robot must preserve itself, unless that conflicts with either Rule #2 or Rule #1.
uh oh...
Yeah, I imagine it could be an even deadlier version of Vroomba.
That doesn't stop me from going to TelecomXX. It's every four years, and it's a blast to hang out in and around Geneva for a few weeks...
Telecom99 almost killed me as I was tagged as set-up, infrastructure support, tear-down, AND daily booth duty (swag distributor). On the plus side, however, I was in a state of culinary orgasm pretty much the entire time. It also didn't hurt that our booth was conveniently close to the ever-present Moet Chandon booth...
fuckin' beautiful
True. However, how many cable companies compete in an one metropolitan location? How many satellite ISPs are there?
That's besides the point, anyway. We're talking about competition on the last-mile copper pair that terminates in consumer households. The competition there isn't only DSL, but for local calling. IIRC, MCI (?) has already decided to stop offering local service to many areas on the heels of the FCC ruling.
We can go 'round and 'round with opinions, though. I'm going to wait to see how the price is affected. My prediction is that the consumer will be adversely affected.
Amen to that, Brother...
Classic free market economics gave rise to the railroad monopolies, which gave rise to the Sherman Act. Surely you don't think monopolies are a good thing for innovation, competition, and hence consumers??
And what allowed the competition to traverse the last-mile lines? The regulation forcing the baby-Bells to give access to the competitors at wholesale rather than market rates.
Now that the last-mile price barrier has been removed, I expect to see prices increase.
The baby-Bells inherited a local monopoly. You can't very well take it away. But you can otherwise force them to allow for competition by forcing wholesale rates.
Your "Windows" analogy doesn't work at all. It actually proves my point, because Microsoft has a monopoly on consumer OS products, and has been allowed to keep it (despite overwhelming evidence of illegal predatory marketing practices).
No flame at all.
And you don't think that price decrease is because the technology is pretty much ubiquitous and widely used? Sorry bub, but deregulation has exactly *zero* to do with the decreased price of broadband.
Just look what deregulation did for California's electricity customers...
Sorry, I should have stated that the "once a week" is just a loose average. Many times it would drop out a few times per day (once for the entire day).
The office is a mortgage broker, and most of the lending institutions have gone to on-line submissions. Having the business go off-line for a day (or towards the end of the day, near the deadline for loan approval submissions) can mean the difference between 1/4 and 1/2 percentage rate for a mortgage (which is "locked" at the time of initial loan approval). Rates change on a daily basis. This can cost the customer tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan, and can cost the broker a few thousand in terms of "points" he/she is able to charge for working the package (not to mention any possible rebates, which are spiffs from the lender to the broker).
(goddamned errant mouse-clicks...)
Anyway, here's the link for Connector.
Also, isn't Active Directory just LDAP with a bunch of MS-specific shit thrown on? Supposedly Evolution supports LDAP lookups, but I don't yet use that (and from what I've read, it isn't yet well integrated).
I use Evolution and I like it quite a bit. I haven't used the Connector because I don't need it, but Novell recently released it as free and Open Source (as opposed to the previous pay-for licensing).
If you think Michael Powell is deregulating to benefit the consumer, you're drinking too much of the Koo-aid...
That same FCC decision, IIRC, also allowed the local baby-Bells to charge whatever they want for access to their networks by other carriers. That effectively *destroys* competition for last-mile service.
I have yet to see a decrease in consumer prices in any such circumstance...
Does that mean I can expect a commensurate increase in the frequency of network outtages? I consult for an SBC (PacBell) customer. Most of the employees there also use PacBell DSL at home. Every one of them, including the business account, frequently drop off the 'Net for periods ranging from 5 to 45 minutes at least once per week. SBC-Yahoo-PacBell doesn't seem to see this as a problem.
It was also an exercise in frustration to get the business account (one of PacBell's first business DSL customers) switched from an all-copper-to-the-CO connection to a short copper run to the fiber BBox in the parking lot. The original line had been moved so far down the chain that the signal had degraded to the point that the SiNR was well below minimum service level. It had been this way for quite a while (before I started servicing this small office). It took me a year to diagnose (by working with the local technicians responding to my trouble tickets) and get PacBell to do anything about it. At the suggestion of one of the field techs I worked with, I actually had to drop the original account and sign up for "new" service (which would automatically be assigned a circuit routed through the fiber drop less than 100 meters from the customer).
PS: I've advised the customer to switch carriers, or at least get a dedicated line (so as to combine voice/data, solving a whole host of other issues) but the owner is a cheap-ass (who I know doesn't read Slashdot...) and doesn't want to "change email addresses".
<Sigh>...
Because it takes longer than seven days to reach Mars?
You live at Wrigley Field?
Nice Blues Brothers reference...