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.  Our only hope now is that Bill Gates will have the fortitude to
see this through, all the way to the Supreme Court if need be, and that in the
end this judgment gets overturned.  Another reason why the upcoming 2000
election is going to be very important.

Kind regards,

Denys. . .

Denys Beauchemin
HICOMP
(800) 323-8863  (281) 288-7438         Fax: (281) 355-6879
denys at hicomp.com                             www.hicomp.com


-----Original Message-----
From:   Bruce Toback [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Monday, 08 November, 1999 9:56 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: U.S. Judge Finds Microsoft Holds Monopoly Power

Joe Geiser writes:

>Sure, if someone comes out with a browser that trounces MSIE, and does what
>MSIE does (using APIs, and not plagarizing code)...

There's a catch to "using APIs": Microsoft has the source code to those
APIs, and the hypothetical browser developer does not. This makes it much
harder for a would-be competitor to develop sophisticated applications,
because anyone who tries must first reverse-engineer the many parts of
Windows which are undocumented but which must be understood by people
developing complex applications. If the Microsoft employee needs to
understand what sequences of messages are sent during an MDI window
transition, all s/he has to do is consult the Windows source code. If _I_
need to understand it, I have to buy a third-party kernel debugger and
write test programs.

The above scenario assumes no malevolence on Microsoft's part. Throw in
some malevolence, and it's very easy for MS to break my program without
affecting their own. If you doubt that there's any difference between
aggressive competition and malevolence, look at Intel, which dominates
the hardware side of the desktop PC market even more than Microsoft does
the software side.

-- Bruce



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Toback    Tel: (602) 996-8601| My candle burns at both ends;
OPT, Inc.            (800) 858-4507| It will not last the night;
11801 N. Tatum Blvd. Ste. 142      | But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
Phoenix AZ 85028                   | It gives a lovely light.
btoback AT optc.com                |     -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
Mail sent to [log in to unmask] will be inspected for a
fee of US$250. Mailing to said address constitutes agreement to
pay, including collection costs.