At 12:28 11/08/1999 -0600, Denys Beauchemin wrote:
>X-no-Archive:yes
>You guys are all missing the point.  The Federal government has now
stepped in
>and will regulate the computer software industry.  We will come to rue
Friday,
>5 November 1999.  It will become known as Black Friday in the IT industry.
> This is what this whole thing is about. Government control of software
>development.

[rest snipped]

Denys writes as though as this is the first time that the government has
tried to step into the computer industry.  But, of course, it's not.  The
feds brought anti-trust action against IBM in the early 60's.  Litigation
dragged on for 10 years, without a whole lof of effect on IBM's dominant
position in the market.  What did knock IBM off its perch, of course, the
sea change in technology and business culture with which IBM was not
equipped to handle.

The same thing will happen, I think, to Microsoft.  This thing will drag on
for years without much effect on MS.  What will happen, in all likelihood,
is that MS, which increasingly resembles the IBM of the 70s in its
sluggishness and dependence on well-established, highly-profitable
products, will get clobbered by technological and business changes it
cannot handle.


Tom Brandt                            Northtech Systems, Inc.
+1 734-769-5040                     313 N. First Street
+1 734-769-5498 (FAX)            Ann Arbor, MI 48103