Das System Bill Gates
Die Besonderheiten der Softwareindustrie
und der Informationsökonomie
Normally, in the semiconductor industry, standards drive costs
down. Standards enable volume which drives the learning curve
and continuous improvement cost reductions. Only open standards
do that. In the absence of open standards and competition, consumers
will pay a monopolist tax. There is healthy competition and then there is unfair competition.
I think the evidence is steadily mounting that Microsoft has over
the years crossed the line many, many times. You could argue that Microsoft is the product of clever strategy,
mediocre technology, and a hell of a lot of increasing returns. Hyperbole aside, Microsoft wants to move into every business where
software matters--from the chilled rooms of mainframe computing
to the household appliances that are being computerized. Gates
wants to expand into the corporate-enterprise market--from databases
to E-mail. And he wants to play in consumer electronics--from
TV set-top boxes to car navigation systems. Microsoft is a monopoly without comparison in the history of monopolies.What
Microsoft wants to do is to control all the choke points and access
points to the Internet.They want to control the Internet not by
monopolizing all of what's called cyberspace, but if they can
control the way you get to the Internet, then in effect they'll
have control of the entire Internet. "The question is, are we looking forward to the Information Age,
or will it be the Microsoft Age?'' For Gates to prosper in the next century, every move you make,
every step you take, will earn him money. Lots of it. For this
to be true requires no grand conspiracy, only the logic of digital
electronics and Gates' capacity to straddle its breathtaking expanse.
Jerry Sanders, CEO der Chipfirma AMD
Brian Arthur in einem Interview mit Pretext
Brian Arthur
Business Week vom 19.1.98
Gary Reback, Staranwalt von Sun und Netscape in ABC-Nightline
vom 20.10.97
Gates-Gegner und Oracle-Chef Larry Ellison (Business Week vom
19.1.98)
Pascal Zachary in Mother Jones (1-2/98)
next: businesspraktiken
[intro] [infoökonomie] praktiken] [rollen] [prophezeiungen] [start gates] [home sk]