4 ms·

The stuff microsoft got hated for in the 90s is now standard operating procedure for giant tech companies. Not to defend MS, but perhaps 'create a monopoly and

The stuff microsoft got hated for in the 90s is now standard operating procedure for giant tech companies. Not to defend MS, but perhaps 'create a monopoly and then agressively expand sideways into other areas to extinguish competitors" is the default behaviour of these behemoths and it wasn't anything specific about MS apart from them being the first one.

A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
Not for nothing, it seems that various governing bodies are slowly waking up to the idea some of those giants have really gotten a little too big, so there is a chance of some real action similar to action taken on MS.
dotancohen 5y ago
Smacking down the first one was supposed to signal to the others that this is not how society accepts them to behave. I wonder where we got off track.
- pseudalopex 5y ago
  When was the smack down?
- codeulike 5y ago
  I wonder where we got off track. Really, the USA is run by and for corporations. The 90s antitrust against Microsoft happened because Netscape and all the other ms competitors had the connections to push for it. There wont be anything similar against the FAANG corporations now unless a subset of them decide they want to do that, and they're in a careful dance with each other to avoid that happening. 1996: "Netscape and its lawyers and economists, they put together a white paper that they presented to the Justice Department that laid out all of the evidence they had collected on Microsoft. That was a really critical event in the development of the case." https://www.theringer.com/tech/2018/5/18/17362452/microsoft-antitrust-lawsuit-netscape-internet-explorer-20-years https://www.theringer.com/tech/2018/5/18/17362452/microsoft-...
- maxsilver 5y ago
  > I wonder where we got off track. We stopped enforcing the law against large companies. :( Apple's behavior today on iOS is clearly worse than 90's era Microsoft Windows, but we had a semi-functional FTC back then, and we mostly don't today.
- thow-58d4e8b 5y ago
  The main difference is that in the 90s, the US still had real physical activity underlying its economy, and pretty impressive at that. You smack Microsoft, but who cares - there's still a wide industrial base, hundreds of thousands of small to medium enterprises, global monopoly on entertainment, semiconductor supremacy, high-end aircraft and car manufacturing, etc. That's gone - industry got outsourced, the gap between Intel and TSMC is growing every year, Boeing's reputation will unlikely to ever recover, Hollywood is a joke, oil and gas extraction is perceived as villains, journalism in terminal decline, finance and pharma pure rent seeking. Software is the only thing left where Americans can say with a straight face that they're proud of it - hence the unwillingness to taint the crown jewels
deleted 5y ago
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A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago

Not for nothing, it seems that various governing bodies are slowly waking up to the idea some of those giants have really gotten a little too big, so there is a chance of some real action similar to action taken on MS.

dotancohen 5y ago

Smacking down the first one was supposed to signal to the others that this is not how society accepts them to behave. I wonder where we got off track.

pseudalopex 5y ago
When was the smack down?
codeulike 5y ago
I wonder where we got off track. Really, the USA is run by and for corporations. The 90s antitrust against Microsoft happened because Netscape and all the other ms competitors had the connections to push for it. There wont be anything similar against the FAANG corporations now unless a subset of them decide they want to do that, and they're in a careful dance with each other to avoid that happening. 1996: "Netscape and its lawyers and economists, they put together a white paper that they presented to the Justice Department that laid out all of the evidence they had collected on Microsoft. That was a really critical event in the development of the case." https://www.theringer.com/tech/2018/5/18/17362452/microsoft-antitrust-lawsuit-netscape-internet-explorer-20-years https://www.theringer.com/tech/2018/5/18/17362452/microsoft-...
maxsilver 5y ago
> I wonder where we got off track. We stopped enforcing the law against large companies. :( Apple's behavior today on iOS is clearly worse than 90's era Microsoft Windows, but we had a semi-functional FTC back then, and we mostly don't today.
thow-58d4e8b 5y ago
The main difference is that in the 90s, the US still had real physical activity underlying its economy, and pretty impressive at that. You smack Microsoft, but who cares - there's still a wide industrial base, hundreds of thousands of small to medium enterprises, global monopoly on entertainment, semiconductor supremacy, high-end aircraft and car manufacturing, etc. That's gone - industry got outsourced, the gap between Intel and TSMC is growing every year, Boeing's reputation will unlikely to ever recover, Hollywood is a joke, oil and gas extraction is perceived as villains, journalism in terminal decline, finance and pharma pure rent seeking. Software is the only thing left where Americans can say with a straight face that they're proud of it - hence the unwillingness to taint the crown jewels

deleted 5y ago

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