Re: Microsoft takes on ACT

["Marin David Condic" <dont.bother.mcondic.auntie.spam@[acm.org>]

"Preben Randhol" <randhol+abuse@pvv.org> wrote in message
news:slrnaesi0h.49v.randhol+abuse@kiuk0152.chembio.ntnu.no...
>
> What is a totally free market? Looking at the "Free" Markets today one

There is no such thing as a "totally free market" and I doubt there ever has
been. There are always some parts of any economy that are what is called
"command economy". (Police protection, fire protection, public libraries,
etc. are all examples of "command" aspects of the economy.)


> see that companies gets bigger and bigger and fewer and fewer. I think

Not at all true. Actually, quite the opposite. "Free" markets are for the
most part driven by small businesses. Generally, the less they tend towards
"Command" economies, the easier it is for small businesses to start up, gain
a toe hold and  become successful. The more an economy tends towards a
"Command" economy, the more it tends to breed large, inefficient,
politically driven and unaccountable organizations to deliver goods and
services.


> ideal theory cannot be applied to the current market. The reason why for
> instance Linux does well is that it is outside the market. If Linux had

How is Linux outside the market? "The Market" is just a word for the means
of distributing economic goods. How is Linux not an economic good? How is it
not distributed? And just because someone doesn't get paid for the
distribution of the razor doesn't mean they aren't going to get paid for the
distribution of the blades. Linux is very much a part of "The Market" and it
isn't "Free" (beer) - *someone* pays.


> been a company, Microsoft would have bought it and dismantled it in
> order to keep its place. Now they try by spreading FUD.
>
You may be right if Linux had been a closed source, proprietary thing.
However, Linux *could* have been a company and *still* been in a position to
threaten Microsoft. ACT is a company and they build GNAT for fun and profit,
yet it is still open source and of some potential threat to Microsoft.


> Read:
>
>  GNU.org.pe: Peruvian Congressman's Open Letter to Microsoft
>  http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2002-05-06-012-26-OS-SM-LL
>
> The Free Market revolves around the survival of the fittest which means
> you will always get large companies dominating and smaller companies

Not at all true. Sure, there is a tendency for successful companies to get
more successful, but there is also a tendency for large companies to get
"too large" for their own good & they are easily beaten by smaller, more
agile companies. History is repleat with examples. IBM? Where did Compaq,
Dell and Gateway get the idea they could ever kick IBM's butt when they were
just little guys starting out in garages?


> trying to grow up to overturn the "leader". The problem is that the
> bigger companies won't play fair. The advantage smaller comanies may

Where does it say on the admission ticket that existence is "fair"? :-)

> have is that they can be more dynamic. Another problem is the cost
> barrier to get into a market which may be extremely high.
>
There are really big barriers to entry and exit in lots of businesses. Power
generation, automobile manufacture, shipbuilding, etc. *Software* is not one
of them. All you need is a PC, a compiler and an Internet connection. Why is
Microsoft in trouble? Because the barriers to entry are low and other
players are emerging with products that compete nicely with theirs and they
can't come up with something new & fascinating to capture hoards of new
customers.

Markets work. I'm not against some regulation by government to make sure
that companies don't do bad things - like pollute Lake Erie or lie to their
investors. However, you really have a kind of a line on which to choose from
as to how you want to distribute goods and services:

{Totally-Free-Market}.........................................{Total Command
Economy}

You have to pick where on that line you want to fall. Hint: The closer
people have come to the right-hand-side, the more they have generated
poverty, oppression and failure. :-)

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com