My “Freedom from Microsoft” campaign continues to bring some surprising mail. Several writers are calling me a socialist, or worse.
Puzzling. I’m trying to restore, not diminish, competition in the marketplace. If that’s a radical idea, we’re in real trouble.
Meanwhile, I got the following note from a software developer from outside Silicon Valley. He said the following about Microsoft:
“I run a software company here in (place deleted), and have met
with them to discuss business development.“When I meet with normal large vendors like HP, they
concentrate on how we
can work together to grow our mutual market share.
When I meet with Microsoft, the focus is on what carrots &
sticks are going
to get my firm to stop supporting competitive visions (Java,
Linux, etc.)“That’s a working definition of a monopoly, in my opinion.”
I asked the writer if I could post his note. He said yes, but only as long as I took his name and location out.
Why the anonymity? He explained:
“Our VCs would
eviscerate me if
indulged my own sense of integrity and put words like that on
the record :-)”