Thursday, June 10, 2004

New York suit against Microsoft can continue....
Yes, ANOTHER lawsuit against Microsoft.... Same old, same old. It alleges deceptive and monopolistic business practices. The suit "contends Microsoft violated section 349 of the state's general business code. That section prohibits 'deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce' and lets private individuals sue for damages and attorney's fees. It was filed by the law firm of Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, & Schulman. Y'know, secret agreements to throttle competition, application barriers that harmed competitors...

Look... You got a guy, any guy, YOU even. He starts a business. His goal, hopefully, is to make money, a LOT of money. To do that, he doesn't make it easy for his competitors to compete with him. That's called business. Okay, he doesn't go out and shoot people and blow up things, but if he wants to make a gizmo that only his widget will work with, that's business, and that's a big roll of the dice also. If there's a better widget out there, his potential customers will gravitate toward the better widget and whatever gizmo it works with. The guy's going to lose his shirt and go out of business. If there isn't a better widget out there, the guy shouldn't be forced to make a crappy gizmo so other people's widgets will work with it.

We have to get off this lazy Susan we're on. It's okay for a business to make a profit, it's wrong for a government to make a profit (i.e., surplus), not the other way around.
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