Second, what about the Gateses of the past? Microsoft is not the
first startup to sweep through an industry and leave the old elite
and others panting. Ford nealy had a monopoly on cars. Have
you driven a Ford lately? Most people don't today. Was it the
government that worked some magic to make other car companies
compete? No. In fact, tariffs and import quotas help to keep Ford's
competitors out, but yet it moves. Honda, Toyota, Chrysler, etc.
all make cars and compete with Ford.
Third, the personal computer software market is relatively new. As it
matures, not only do I think more competitors will break into it, but
consumers will demand more of an OS. Maybe this will be more
than Gates and Microsoft can deliver. If so, competitors will eat
his company alive. If not, then perhaps it is because he is giving
the people what they want.
My Response::
There is *no* historical prescedent like Bill Gates. His control is much
deeper and more fundamental than that. Bill Gates does not have
control over just an industry like automobiles. He is beginning to have
control over ALL INFORMATION ITSELF; the very fabric of our new economy.
This would be equivalanent to Morgan or Ford having control over most of
industrial processes themselves; both horizontally and vertically. In
other words you wouldn't even be able to invent the airplane, because
every industrial process in doing so, would be owned and controlled by
ONE person.
That is the irony! The Information revolution is fundamentally
different than the Industrial revolution in that it is more fundamental
to how our whole socio-economic system functions. And in turn allows
less people to have more control over the whole process.
This whole browser war is a perfect case of how Bill can control and
crush anyone he finds a threat. If anyone thinks that a few intelligent
and business savvy individuals can bring him down I am all ears, because
I think it is becoming increasingly impossible (i.e Netscape, Sun, and a
1000 other corpses left dying on Bill's information hwy) to do so. If
Bill Gates is not stopped now, it will too late. In a thousand years,
the late 20 and 21st centuries will be known as the Gates Dynasty!
Zeke
Zeke
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