Microsoft Hatred FAQ 5175
On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:36:37 +0200, "Peter T. Breuer" said : It was not a discount. I was being denied the right to buy from any wholesaler. The "deal" MS...
It depends upon how different the products are and how easy it is to shop out of your local market. If the products are equally good and reasonably interchangeable and it's hard to shop out of your local market, then you're right. The more the smaller product is better than the larger product, the less interchangeable they are, and the easier it is to shop out of your local market, the more wrong you are.
How often do you hear, "I'd like to use Linux, but I just can't get ahold of it"?
And how many people do you hear saying, "I'd like to use Linux, but I'm not willing to shell out the bucks to buy it since I already bought Windows with my computer".
Yes, it certainly is. However, it is also Microsoft's right as a seller to refuse discounts to those who also...
On the other hand, where you might be right is in the possibility that Microsoft's lock on the market prevented other companies from making operating systems at all. That is, that had Microsoft used different policies, other companies would have introduced operating systems to compete with Microsoft, and we'd all have better operating systems for it. If Microsoft's conduct was legal, this argument establishes that the conduct was necessary.
DS
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