Re: [tlug] Re: [OT] Say _no_ to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard

["Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com>]

On 08/07/07, Godwin Stewart <gstewart@example.com> wrote:

> Antitrust laws are all about giving end-users the choice of what they
> purchase, so we have a chicken-and-egg situation here.

The problem with antitrust laws is that by the time you get around to
attempting to prosecute them, the "monopoly" may well be gone. And
just look at the IBM case for a massive waste of taxpayer resources
basically started by sore losers that were being fairly outcompeted by
IBM in the marketplace.

I make the bold claim that monopolies are no longer sustainable in
first-world countries, due to the breakneck pace of innovation. The
monopolist is actually doing themselves a disservice, because the very
act of pwning the market removes their incentive to innovate. And then
Google comes along, groks the Internet-era "more services, less fat
clients" model, and innovates the rug right out from under them.

Barriers to entry are super-low on the Internet, and that really means
that a true monopoly, by the kosher econ definition as I understand
it, cannot occur, or at least cannot last.

Microsoft has already lost the war, but it might take another ten
years before this is evident to everyone.

Bitching about Microsoft is so '90s, man.

So leave the market alone, governments. Antitrust laws are slow,
unwieldy, and often enforced in a highly politically motivated way.

Who needs 'em?

--
Cheers,
Josh