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It worked for shrinkwrap software when they had an OS monopoly they could abuse to drive their competition out of business, and likewise it worked for their OS
by raganwald 17y ago
It worked for shrinkwrap software when they had an OS monopoly they could abuse to drive their competition out of business, and likewise it worked for their OS business when they could negotiate illegal anti-competitive terms and conditions with their licensees.
I'm sure they have done some great work, but it is hard to look at their track record and figure out how much of their success was earned on the merits of their products and how much was earned on the "merits" of their business practices.
- netsp 17y agoIt also worked before they had an OS monopoly. After all, that's how they got their monopoly.
- raganwald 17y agoAh, no. They rode IBM's success to their monopoly and even in their first business dealings they had anti-competitive goings on. For example, it was possible to purchase an IBM-PC with DR-DOS instead of PC-DOS, but you ended up paying for PC-DOS and DR-DOS, so it was always cheaper to stick with PC-DOS. Again, I'm saying that it is hard to look at their success and disentangle their products's merits from their business practices.