Why Microsoft Will Remain a Monopoly

By Matt Paisie

As everybody who reads this must own a computer, I ask this: how many use DOS/windows/Microsoft-something? Something like 70%+ of the world's computers use Windows or other software made by Microsoft. The US Justice Department and about 10 states have recently filed an anti-trust suit against Microsoft, since they just figured out about two years ago that Microsoft was getting a dangerous control of the computer industry. One word from Bill Gates and the PC users of the world get screwed over. The government says they want to give OS/2 and some other systems a chance in the market, I say the odds of this are slim to none. Here is why: I do not know how it works in the UK, but over here, any corporation can get away with almost anything by bribing the lawmakers. But they do not call it bribing, they call it "lobbying," which could be defined as the following:

Political knee-breaking
Bribery (covered already, but might as well list it anyway) Foot-in-the-door (Traveling Salesman syndrome, agree to small request and inflate it again and again, etc.) Inundation (continual pleas/begs/offers of $5,000-a-plate-to-raise-campaign-funds dinners)

Lobbying works something like this: Company A pays Lobbyist B to get Politician C to change his/her opinion on something. The effectiveness of B depends mainly on the amount of money A is willing to pay to get C to vote in A's favor. The US Justice Department won its trust suit, which is good. The US Justice Department is also composed of lawyers and politicians, arguably the two greediest types of people in the history of the planet, which is bad. Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, has enough money to buy a small 3rd-World country, which is even worse. I think the USJD settled out-of-court, because I have not heard anything about this for several months now. Microsoft will buy (or has bought) off the politicians, and will eventually gain control of the computer industry in the US, and the government will not care. Why? Because Mr. Gates can keep funnelling the greenbacks into their pockets and campaign coffers from now until Ragnarok, and so long as the politicians stay in office, they could not care less about the ordinary people who use computers in their everyday lives.

Just a thought.

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