[Cialug] Re: MS

[Christopher Freeman]

Jeff Davis wrote:

> I didn't say they weren't responsible, I said they are rarely offered
> an alternative.  You suggest this is because the consumer is not 
> shopping around.
> I ask you then, at which store is the average person getting offered a 
> machine running linux?
> What dealership do they need to visit?
>
>
>
>
>
> Chris Hilton wrote:
>
>> That's true.  And if you shop for a car by buying from Ford without
>> shopping any other dealerships you have the same problem. It's hardly
>> fair to say the consumer isn't responsible because they aren't
>> knowledgable enough to know where to look for alternatives.
>> I suppose I forgot to blaim business as well, many people buy what their
>> business uses.
>>
I think this gets into the shortcomings of a completely free market. The 
strengths of a free market rest on the assumptions that the consumer 
base is informed. But, it all kinda breaks down if you assume that the 
consumer base can be easily misinformed. In this case, people shopping 
for computers are not informed about the concept of an OS. They know 
about brands hardware (to a limited degree) and resellers. 'Windows' is 
synonomous with 'computer'; it is not an OS to them. Thus, it is 
impossible for them to ask the question, "What OS does it run?" So they 
physically/logically can't make an informed decision. This is why the MS 
monopoly is bad - not because they own so much of the brainshare, but 
because they use that ownership to stop people from being able to make 
informed decisions.

The car market simile breaks down because it doesn't exhibit that 
symptom of the problem. Sure, the customer didn't do their homework. 
But, MS is banking on that, and encouraging that. Car dealerships don't 
have that luxury. They can't blot the other dealership signs from the 
sky so you can't see them as you drive by.

My $.02.

Chris