Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Jerrek
No, I agree that they are trying to cruch the competition. That is the idea of free enterprise. However, are you saying they are NOT improving their products by bundling free software that gives new functionality to the operating system??
|
There is no doubt that Microsoft Windows with a media player included is a better product than Windows without one. The reason I keep using phrases like 'short-sighted' and 'narrow-minded' is because whether it's a 'better' product in the here and now is only one concern. In the long term, allowing Microsoft to dominate to the extent that there is no competition leaves one single organisation providing all services without any effective challenge from anywhere. Doesn't sound that different than communism to me.
Quote:
|
Again, who are you to claim ownership over Microsoft?
|
I don't claim ownership of them except in the way I am entitled, as a voter in a democratic society, to have a say in how things are done here. You have the same privilege - if you dislike the anti-trust laws that blight Microsoft in the States in a not dissimilar way to our European Competition Commission, it's your right to go and vote for someone pledged to repeal them. Is there any mainstream opposition to the current antu-trust laws in the USA?
Quote:
|
Of course, we should also make it illegal for Apple to sell Quicktime with their computers.
|
Apple has got away with things that would have put Microsoft in the dock a dozen times over. On the one hand it's deeply hypocritical, but having said that, Apple doesn't have the same power to destroy an industry simply by deciding to do things in a certain way.
Quote:
|
And, Linux is not allowed to come with a file system unless it offers you the ability to choose between ext3 and NTFS.
|
Linux is an operating system kernel, normally suurounded by GNU tools, even though the GNU project has long been developing a kernel of its own. Then you can choose from a range of GUIs to sit on top of it all. So anyone who uses Linux has already enjoyed far more free choice than they would be permitted by Microsoft.
However this is a bogus comparison because 1/ Linux is essentially free, and it is open source, and therefore incapable of monopolizing the market even if it were the dominant operating system; and 2/ like Apple, it
isn't in a monopoly position.
Quote:
|
Actually, it was patented, and the inventor choose to sell it to make money. That is why we have intellectual property laws. HOWEVER, if he chose NOT to sell it, and rather manufacture ALL television sets, that is perfectly fine too. How does TV programs relate to the hardware?
|
I was thinking of the technical side of running a TV station rather than actually recording a programme. It would be pretty hard to make and transmit pictures without understanding how the recever wants to pick them up. But let's not spend ages on a simple analogy.
Quote:
|
No. Because YOU can't argue against her arguments, you'd rather succumb to character assassination and attack HER. Way to go. You can't attack the source if it is an opinion. You can only attack the credibilty of the source if it is presented as impartial and unopinionated.
|
I have not attempted to put up a full rebuttal of Ayn Rand in this thread. Please don't mistake my choice not to do this with an inability to do so.
Quote:
|
So because one of her followers said something you don't agree with, you attack Ayn Rand? How noble.
|
Please, the quoted source is a 'senior writer at the Ayn Rand institute'. I see nothing to convince me that they don't believe the same thing. Don't split hairs.