3 ms·

That's a stretch. Especially since the largest players over to past decade haven't been attacked in this way by MS... Apple, Palm, RIM. In the tablet space ev

That's a stretch. Especially since the largest players over to past decade haven't been attacked in this way by MS... Apple, Palm, RIM. In the tablet space even Android is a niche player compared to the iPad. Additionally until recently the Nook was pretty much just an eReader, with the most popular software client running on Windows. My point is this is a stretch, like any good conspiracy theory.

nobodyspecial 16y ago
ahh, but it's not that MS IS a monopoly in the market, it's that MS is using a current monopoly to leverage into another market.
- kenjackson 16y ago
  But licensing or suing isn't leveraging their current monopoly. They aren't blocking Android from syncing on Windows. They're not blocking the Nook client from working on Windows. They're not bundling WP with Windows. They're suing over patents. Last I checked even monopolies could sue over patent infringement. If BN asserted they were actually using their monopoly power then that would be one thing. But simply asserting that a monopoly in one space is being scrappy in another doesn't meet the bar.
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    > But licensing or suing isn't leveraging their current monopoly Using the income from monopoly A for threatening to drag players in market B (that's about to become more relevant than monopoly A) into legal wars that only the plaintiff can afford is... well... shady. > They're suing over patents. Last I checked even monopolies could sue over patent infringement. Unless they are using those patents to prevent competitors from competing with them. If you consider the mobile ecosystem as competition to the desktop ecosystem, you can argue they are leveraging a monopoly (because the monopolist in segment A can afford a legal battle nobody in segment B can) to prevent it from being rendered worthless by a segment they can't monopolize.
rbanffy 16y ago
The fact Android is a niche player in the current market is more or less irrelevant. What's relevant is the desktop market will become less and less important because of a shift towards server-based computing and mobile (or thin) clients. This threatens the survival of Microsoft like no previous player (like you mentioned, Apple, Palm and RIM) did and that alone is enough to explain Microsoft's lack of action at the time. Mobile devices and easy connectivity signal the end of the only market Microsoft has been able to dominate completely. What would you do in their shoes?
- cooldeal 16y ago
  >Mobile devices and easy connectivity signal the end of the only market Microsoft has been able to dominate completely. Mobile devices signal the end of PC? I see you have bought this Post-PC bs hook, line and sinker. PCs are going to be important for quite a while, I don't see many people replacing their PCs with tablets or phones, they seem to be just using it as an additional device.
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    > PCs are going to be important for quite a while Like trucks remain important today. We will have a lot of other information processing/retrieval devices around us. Up to now, we had mostly one type. Shortly, we'll have a far more diverse ecosystem. > I don't see many people replacing their PCs with tablets or phones Don't look to PCs if you want to see people replacing them. Look at people who prefer to do their scheduling or e-mail on phones or their reading on tablets.
yardie 16y ago
All of those companies have a large portfolio of patents. They haven't been attacked because they all have dirt on each other. Now that MS and Nokia have a new cross-licensing agreement, and think about how large the portfolio is of a combined MS+Nokia, they are starting to leverage it in very bad ways. You should read it again. I think MS has gone out of there way to reinvent themselves as not that old Microsoft. But sometimes a maneating tiger really is a maneating tiger.

nobodyspecial 16y ago

ahh, but it's not that MS IS a monopoly in the market, it's that MS is using a current monopoly to leverage into another market.

kenjackson 16y ago
But licensing or suing isn't leveraging their current monopoly. They aren't blocking Android from syncing on Windows. They're not blocking the Nook client from working on Windows. They're not bundling WP with Windows. They're suing over patents. Last I checked even monopolies could sue over patent infringement. If BN asserted they were actually using their monopoly power then that would be one thing. But simply asserting that a monopoly in one space is being scrappy in another doesn't meet the bar.
- rbanffy 16y ago
  > But licensing or suing isn't leveraging their current monopoly Using the income from monopoly A for threatening to drag players in market B (that's about to become more relevant than monopoly A) into legal wars that only the plaintiff can afford is... well... shady. > They're suing over patents. Last I checked even monopolies could sue over patent infringement. Unless they are using those patents to prevent competitors from competing with them. If you consider the mobile ecosystem as competition to the desktop ecosystem, you can argue they are leveraging a monopoly (because the monopolist in segment A can afford a legal battle nobody in segment B can) to prevent it from being rendered worthless by a segment they can't monopolize.

rbanffy 16y ago

The fact Android is a niche player in the current market is more or less irrelevant. What's relevant is the desktop market will become less and less important because of a shift towards server-based computing and mobile (or thin) clients. This threatens the survival of Microsoft like no previous player (like you mentioned, Apple, Palm and RIM) did and that alone is enough to explain Microsoft's lack of action at the time. Mobile devices and easy connectivity signal the end of the only market Microsoft has been able to dominate completely. What would you do in their shoes?

cooldeal 16y ago
>Mobile devices and easy connectivity signal the end of the only market Microsoft has been able to dominate completely. Mobile devices signal the end of PC? I see you have bought this Post-PC bs hook, line and sinker. PCs are going to be important for quite a while, I don't see many people replacing their PCs with tablets or phones, they seem to be just using it as an additional device.
- rbanffy 16y ago
  > PCs are going to be important for quite a while Like trucks remain important today. We will have a lot of other information processing/retrieval devices around us. Up to now, we had mostly one type. Shortly, we'll have a far more diverse ecosystem. > I don't see many people replacing their PCs with tablets or phones Don't look to PCs if you want to see people replacing them. Look at people who prefer to do their scheduling or e-mail on phones or their reading on tablets.

yardie 16y ago

All of those companies have a large portfolio of patents. They haven't been attacked because they all have dirt on each other. Now that MS and Nokia have a new cross-licensing agreement, and think about how large the portfolio is of a combined MS+Nokia, they are starting to leverage it in very bad ways. You should read it again. I think MS has gone out of there way to reinvent themselves as not that old Microsoft. But sometimes a maneating tiger really is a maneating tiger.