Windows 7, Antitrust Lawsuits, and Linux
Intel was recently slapped with a mega antitrust fine for $1.45bn because they were paying manufacturers and retailers to "favor their chips" over AMD, but this next one is no surprise.
Switzerland was sued by Red Hat for the Swiss giving Microsoft a government contract without any public bidding. While this may not be shocking for most, just imagine, as the article quotes open source activist claiming, that this is the tip of the iceberg.
While this is only one account of the breaks that Microsoft receives around the world and how critical they may get of alternatives, they cannot ignore the fact that they are losing market share. Not to their Apple rival, but to a completely different beast. Microsoft may have a lot to fear now that Linux has become quite a force in a variety of different areas. Even Palm is embracing the beauty that is Linux, webOS, with the Pre.
If Windows 7 fails to achieve a hold of the market either because the release has been pushed back too much or Vista left a nasty taste in every one's mouth, then GNU/Linux based computers sold prepacked with the likes of Ubuntu from Dell may steam roll Microsoft. Dell has already taken quite a shine to the Windows alternative by finally adding Ubuntu where the average buyer can see. Which is right where it should be, respectively, under Windows XP and Vista.
I have to add that Dell has also went on record that Windows 7 is going to be more expensive than XP and Vista. This might worry a lot of enthusiasts that are excited for the release of Windows 7, but the price increase for Ultimate, or even Home Premium, may hurt sales even though it has had a very solid beta testing phase thus far.
Although, I have been using Windows 7 for some months virtually and installed on a separate partition. Many may have seen my article how to add Windows 7 to the GRUB, which made me even more excited on the ease of installation and configuration. I have a rather large multiboot, so the fact that Windows 7 plays nice with everyone else is a good thing.
Getting back to the main point of this blog, antitrust lawsuits are literally everywhere these days in technology. We have HP paying Staples $100 million to stop selling cheaper third party ink. There was a nasty court battle announcement between Intel and Nvidia to discuss their future, which is ridiculous. Why piss off Nvidia, Intel?
None of these really surprise me because when a corporate giant becomes too big to fail, it may attempt to corner the market with cunning tactics or take it over by force. This is probably inevitable and unavoidable when a company becomes too large to handle. Large companies have advantages small businesses do not and those are connections and money to lobby. The tools are there, why not abuse them to benefit your multi-billion dollar company?
While this is typically not a bad thing as I use an HP printer with HP ink, desktops and a laptop running Windows XP Home and Pro, and use Intel processors; it can become extremely irritating that we still support these companies because their products are widely available, mostly affordable, and very common.
Maybe one day we will look back and wonder what we were fussing about in regards to Microsoft, but this situation would be the same, if not worse, if Apple was in the place of Microsoft when it comes to Microsoft. Just that Apple is a supposed underdog does not mean that they aren't guilty of more antitrust acts that I can possibly link.
I wonder how long Rambus would last if they attempted to sue Apple.
I assume Apple as they just have better lawyers.
Update: Here is a conversation I had with a friend of mine, Talal, about Microsoft and Windows 7 on Facebook.
Talal: Windows 7 will put Micro$oft back on the map. Open-source is for us-- not "them". People barely know Windows yet-- you think they want to go to something that is CLI more than anything? Install any distro of Linux. You will have some problems. Install Vista Ultimate SP1, update, and you are good to go. I am Linus until I die....but the Microsoft is here to stay...forever. They aren't GM or Chrysler.
Me: People have a hard enough debating on switching to Firefox from IE knowing full well of the intensely reported vulnerabilities, let alone choice of operating systems. Very true. I look forward to Windows 7, but statistically, a great percentage of businesses upgraded to Windows XP during the Vista release. If manufacturers are saying that Windows 7 will be too expensive and with Vista associated with negative memories in the back of the minds of consumers, we may simply have to wait to see if Windows 7 helps M$ pick up market share in a great recession with such opposition and alternative choices. I still plan on moving to Windows 7 as my primary, of course. Quoting you, the beta alone was damn near RTM around build 7000. The latest RC is already vastly improved, stable, and gorgeous from just January. I can't wait for a retail release. Technologically speaking, Windows 7 has already put them back on the map, but economically?
.2¢ Reflection: He makes a great point that Microsoft will definitely be around forever, but in what shape? They are definitely too big to fail, but have made some rather questionable choices in the past. I've met many people that often bring up ME and Vista in the same sentence, which is very ridiculous, but with this type of attitude, will people see Windows 7 as the next Windows XP Service Pack 2 or will they see it as another failed operating system before release?
