<sarcasm with="dripping"> Yep - Windows Media Player put Real Media out of business while it single-handedly eliminated any media format other than WM, all right... ..and oh, yeh - IE completely squashed the remaining Mozilla-based development efforts. Wait - does anyone remember Unix-based OS's? Windows really wiped them off the face of the Earth, didn't it? </sarcasm> Monoculture or not (silly argument for a single-OS company, wouldn't you say?), if you base your business model on someone else's and they change their model to your detriment, do you blame them, try to partner with them or (gasp) adjust your model to the changing landscape? Oh, wait - because it's Microsoft, the rules are fluid. If MS intentionally limits product features to provide for ISV opportunities (yes, this does happen quite often), they're intentionally restricting user capabilities. OTOH, if MS tries to license or purchase technology or the company that owns it, it's guilty of "monopolism". OTTH, if MS attempts to "reinvent a competitive wheel", it's abusing its monopoly to wipe out the competition. Make up (discover?) your collective mind, willya? The fact of the matter is this - Windows users have made their collective desires clear - "give me protection from myself". Since this product noise is being directed to MS, it makes one wonder if the "competition" is all that worthy. Speaking of those who got rich, any company that opted to license or sell to MS haven't done all that badly, and there were no "Guidos" sent in to force their decisions, either. John-boy is whining - nothing more. -----Original Message----- From: casper@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:casper@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Casper.Dik@xxxxxxx Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 3:20 PM To: Mark Litchfield Cc: bugtraq@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; vulnwatch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; full-disclosure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Your Opinion >I have heard the comment "It's a huge conflict of interest" for one company >to provide both an operating platform and a security platform" made by John >Thompson (CEO Symantec) many times from many different people. See article >below. "There goes our business model.", said John Thompson. The Microsoft mono culture has distinct advantages and has made quite a few people rich. But in the end, if Micrsoft does not buy your business but feels it needs to provide a product like your, you're toast. (At least, that part of your business is) Casper All mail to and from this domain is GFI-scanned.
