Hi Alex,
You made one point that I very much agree with. If a developer makes something that can work on all operating systems then the manufacturer should not be hurt by a requirement of exclusivity in operating systems.
A simular thing happens in the tobacco retailing arena. PM and RJR have always had wars for mechandising, rack placement and signage. PM states that if you are in the highest level of their Masters Program you have to give them primary positioning throughout your facility and outside your facility. RJR asks for the same. So to get the best program from both is virtually impossible. But this is not an antitrust issue even though the consumer, retailer, and distributor all get hurt by higher costs and retail pricing due to this contract competition.
An example is the Cigarettes Cheaper chain of stores fell out of their contract with RJR and their price went up 10.00 per carton on RJR brands. PM loved this as there were people switching over to PM brands rather than going elsewhere to buy. The distributor cost went up, the retail went up and the consumer gets the raw end of the deal. But it is not an antitrust case. Just a case of keen competition between two major companies that cause the retailer to make a choice of which they are going to support.
As per Intuit, they work on MS and I use Intuit rather than Money. It is a choice that I made based upon quality and function rather than price. Everybody in the free world can make a choice as well. I choose Office rather than Corels stuff as it works better than Corel or Star, or any of the other office suites available. If the others were better then I would choose them! But I do not need a company that has a lesser quality product to dictate to me that I have to make a choice either. Netscape/AOL/Time Warner are whiners and sore losers and in huge financial trouble. If they would have spent those millions used on lawsuits to make a better product they might not be in the position they are today!
I also do not use the built in CD burning software in XP. I like another product better. Again, a choice.
Is Sprint/Earthlink hurting the wireless market by only using the WAP and Palm systems on their phones rather than CE or other HTML types? Yes, bery much so. But that is a choice that Spint made to exclude the others fromm having access to their digital network.
Is Sprint/Earthlink hurting people by only offering the Netscape browser in their bundle? How about AOL? How about Verizon? These companies are blocking IE so does that make them bad or an antitrust case? No. It does however make them defunct of listenting to their consumers and forcing thier own product without choice. Just a bad business decision I believe, not an antitrust.
The funny part is that when you look at the browser wars from site logs you see the truth. People prefer MS IE over all other combined. Not just because it is in with the bundle (because they get slammed left and right to use the others via AOL mailers, Earthlink, etc...) but because it is a choice to stay with it.
Another good example was the REAL network products. They really have a poor product but were awesome marketers and deal makers. They had over a 70 share at one point. And they could have maintained it if it were a better product. Now they are losing it faster than anyone thought possible to Media player and others that have better products.
In closing I believe the power of choice and the ability of a company to compete based on quality and functionality reign above all else. If the company can stomp the competition then so be it. There will be another company to come along and challenge them as well later on. And so on and so on... The companies that stay developing for the quality and functionality will always win as price is only one part of a buying decision.
Thanks for the debate. I enjoy it and your opinions are great!
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You made one point that I very much agree with. If a developer makes something that can work on all operating systems then the manufacturer should not be hurt by a requirement of exclusivity in operating systems.
A simular thing happens in the tobacco retailing arena. PM and RJR have always had wars for mechandising, rack placement and signage. PM states that if you are in the highest level of their Masters Program you have to give them primary positioning throughout your facility and outside your facility. RJR asks for the same. So to get the best program from both is virtually impossible. But this is not an antitrust issue even though the consumer, retailer, and distributor all get hurt by higher costs and retail pricing due to this contract competition.
An example is the Cigarettes Cheaper chain of stores fell out of their contract with RJR and their price went up 10.00 per carton on RJR brands. PM loved this as there were people switching over to PM brands rather than going elsewhere to buy. The distributor cost went up, the retail went up and the consumer gets the raw end of the deal. But it is not an antitrust case. Just a case of keen competition between two major companies that cause the retailer to make a choice of which they are going to support.
As per Intuit, they work on MS and I use Intuit rather than Money. It is a choice that I made based upon quality and function rather than price. Everybody in the free world can make a choice as well. I choose Office rather than Corels stuff as it works better than Corel or Star, or any of the other office suites available. If the others were better then I would choose them! But I do not need a company that has a lesser quality product to dictate to me that I have to make a choice either. Netscape/AOL/Time Warner are whiners and sore losers and in huge financial trouble. If they would have spent those millions used on lawsuits to make a better product they might not be in the position they are today!
I also do not use the built in CD burning software in XP. I like another product better. Again, a choice.
Is Sprint/Earthlink hurting the wireless market by only using the WAP and Palm systems on their phones rather than CE or other HTML types? Yes, bery much so. But that is a choice that Spint made to exclude the others fromm having access to their digital network.
Is Sprint/Earthlink hurting people by only offering the Netscape browser in their bundle? How about AOL? How about Verizon? These companies are blocking IE so does that make them bad or an antitrust case? No. It does however make them defunct of listenting to their consumers and forcing thier own product without choice. Just a bad business decision I believe, not an antitrust.
The funny part is that when you look at the browser wars from site logs you see the truth. People prefer MS IE over all other combined. Not just because it is in with the bundle (because they get slammed left and right to use the others via AOL mailers, Earthlink, etc...) but because it is a choice to stay with it.
Another good example was the REAL network products. They really have a poor product but were awesome marketers and deal makers. They had over a 70 share at one point. And they could have maintained it if it were a better product. Now they are losing it faster than anyone thought possible to Media player and others that have better products.
In closing I believe the power of choice and the ability of a company to compete based on quality and functionality reign above all else. If the company can stomp the competition then so be it. There will be another company to come along and challenge them as well later on. And so on and so on... The companies that stay developing for the quality and functionality will always win as price is only one part of a buying decision.
Thanks for the debate. I enjoy it and your opinions are great!
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