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We may never know the real story. Steve and Bill used to meet in Bill's jet flying over the ocean so that they could avoid any monitoring as they made deals to
by MrTonyD 10y ago
We may never know the real story. Steve and Bill used to meet in Bill's jet flying over the ocean so that they could avoid any monitoring as they made deals to benefit each other (the whole "we're competitors" was largely fake - I was in plenty of meetings with Steve and also worked for a direct report of Bill. Their goal was to make each other rich.) It may not be a coincidence that Steve dropped Flash (at the time considered the competitor to Microsoft's CLR in the browser - their bet on the future of controlling future development platforms) and Bill took-over the biggest competitor to the iphone. There were plenty of other similar deals being made between them and the major computer vendors (and, if it isn't obvious, we paid the price by the limited competition and limited choices. Bill and Steve didn't just meet with each other. People who think "free market" is real are both naive and arrogant.)
And in a court of law I will say that I just made all this up.
- jtrtoo 10y agoHow is two individuals doing what makes sense for themselves not a free market? Free market doesn't mean altruistic
- lvs 10y agoHe can't say it outright. He's saying they were regularly manipulating the markets in which they operated in an anticompetitive manner. That's one of the main mechanisms by which free markets fail.
- rue 10y agoFreedom requires transparency. That’s what free means. Not “companies free to do whatever they please”.
- krapp 10y ago>That’s what free means. Not “companies free to do whatever they please”. The fact that you used the word "free" here to tell us what "freedom" doesn't mean implies otherwise, because I believe "free to do whatever they please" is exactly what it does mean. There are no "requirements" in a free market other than serving demand and making a profit.
- fsloth 10y ago"People who think "free market" is real are both naive and arrogant." I think in general people - for and against laissez faire economics - confuse free markets with fair. Free market proponents make the error of asuming that all free is also fair and decent and their opponents presume everything should be first and foremost fair (rather than efficient).