I see the difference as Microsoft has just about cornered the market on PC
operating systems(how often is a PC sold without windows?) Although I agree
with you in principal it really is mixing apples and oranges.
You could shop around and find a car dealer that needed the sale bad enough
to take the radio out of the car and reduce the price but unless you are
buying a server or are a real "power user" you will need windows to be at
all productive.
Of course you could buy a MAC......
And while we are at it aren't the "Baby Bells" growing bigger again? How
long will it be befor we have another ATT giant?
Just my take......
Safety Fast !!!
Ross Overcash, 74B, NAMGBR 2-1172, Ayer MA
http://www.tiac.com/users/jroverca/index.htm
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net]On
> Behalf Of Scott Gardner
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 1998 6:49 AM
> To: mgs@autox.team.net
> Subject: Off-Topic--Microsoft Bundling Practice
>
>
> No LBC content here, but this is the biggest group of intelligent,
> insightful and opinionated people I can reach on a short notice, and
> I need to bounce something off of y'all.
> If you haven't been following the story, the government has accused
> Microsoft of unfair business practices by "bundling" their new
> Internet Explorer 4.0 web browser with Windows 98. The claim is that
> the web browser is NOT an integral part of the operating system, but
> rather is an application program, and that by making it difficult for
> the end user to uninstall IE 4.0, that this will hurt companies such
> as Netscape that make a living selling web browsers, since most users
> will just blindly go with the Microsoft web browser that comes with
> the operating system.
> My question is, how does this differ from auto makers putting radios
> in new cars? No one could argue that a stereo is essential or
> integral to the operation of an automobile. While some car companies
> will offer a "radio delete" option allowing you to purchase a new car
> without a radio, many others do not. Some of the companies that DO
> offer the "radio delete" force you to buy the stereo anyway by making
> it part of an "option package" along with other options such as power
> windows or a sunroof. You can get the radio deleted, but that breaks
> up the "option package", and you lose the discount for buying the
> options as a package, thus spending more money than if you had gone
> ahead and kept the radio in the car in the first place.
> There are many car audio companies that would presumably make more
> money if new cars didn't come with radios already equipped, so why
> haven't they cried foul yet? While car owners CAN remove the
> factory radio and replace it with an aftermarket radio, this is very
> difficult on some cars due to switch location/integrated dashboards,
> etc., and many owners are just going to stick with the radio that
> came with the car, since it's already there.
> I'm sure there are other products and companies that have similar
> practices, but this was the first one that popped to mind. Any
> opinions?
>
> Scott
>
>
>
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