🚀 go-pugleaf

On Thu, 07 Jan 1999 11:05:36 +0000, BOB DUCKWORTH <bob@atl.org> wrote:

>Ed Reppert wrote:
......
>On the BG Windoze front. What is so complicated with this antitrust 
>business? The real issue is that consumers have been forced to purchase
>Windoze for years as a result of agreements between PEECEE manufacturers
>and MS. How many of you paid for a PEECEE with Windoze because the
>vendor would not remove it. Was this Windoze you had to take free?
>Alternative OS vendors are screwed from the get go when the OS and the
>hardware are bundled. There is no competition when there is no market
>and with the majority of PEECEE consumers there is no need to even 
>consider another OS when something that kinda sorta works comes 'free'
>with their hardware. A can of worms waiting to be opened is the degree
>to which PEECEE manufacturers participated in the Windoze scam by 
>jumping on the only train to Oz. If the Windoze they shipped was free
>of cost to them where does that place them in scheme? Partners?
>
>-bob
>
>Topical material follows.

 Bob and any other concerned parties:

	I used to work for a PC manufacturer in a previous life. As
part of the bundle the systems were sold with Windows. Talking to the 
product manager at the time, I asked about bundling either OS/2 or 
Unix with some of the machines. He stated that the licensing agreement
with Microsoft required royalties on every PC that left the shipping
dock, whether it was loaded or not, or even included in the box. In
return, the Windows licensing fee was extremely low. This was the
situation that lead to the first court case between the DOJ and
Microsoft, and the consent decree was a result of that case. Whether
Microsoft is doing something illegal right now is the subject of the
current court case. I do know that the licensing fees for subsequent
versions of Windows have increased substantially.

						Kostas

Kostas Kritsilas 		
Nortel Wireless Networks, 14 Fultz Road, Winnipeg, MB  R3Y 1V3
Ph:(204)631-2250 Ext 2319/(204)631-2319 ESN:771 Fax:(204)631-2475	
kkritsilas@broadbandnetworks.com/kkritsilas@bigfoot.com