3 ms·
Antitrust law isn't a tool to secure democracy but to secure competition. I don't think the worry is about actions taken by Microsoft hurting democracy; the con
by calais 7y ago
Antitrust law isn't a tool to secure democracy but to secure competition. I don't think the worry is about actions taken by Microsoft hurting democracy; the concern is MS systems being insecure owing to a lack of competitive pressure and, as a consequence, being vulnerable to democracy-disrupting attacks.
- nine_k 7y agoLack of competitive pressure? You can run a few Linux distros as a reasonable desktop OS, with corporate support and all, if you want. You can run Apple machines and software for desktop computing, as many companies do. On servers, Windows is a minority. MS Office is, of course, a one of a kind thing. Still it's interoperable with other software, within reason, and just reaps the benefits of the network effect, much as other specialized "industry standard" software. As a monopoly, MS's position is weak now.
- yread 7y agoOK, now do the same for LinkedIn and GitHub
- xref 7y agoNot sure if that’s a question or an agreement with the parent? GitHub is of course one of many, gitlab, bitbucket, or self-hosted being common alts. Same with LinkedIn, it’s just social media like Facebook/Twitter/reddit but emphasizes biz
- _bxg1 7y agoThat's fair; I guess the current discourse has muddled antitrust and the other problems with big tech together in my mind, at least in terms of steps being called for and/or taken.