Derogatory name found in The Register - for the Microsoft anti-trust settlement recently upheld in US courts, largely favouring Microsoft. The classy.dk opinion on the matter is - as has been previously mentioned - that MS is very guilty indeed.
Think about it : If Windows NT was a patented drug most of the core would have been in the public domain a long time ago. In drug treatments openness is forced on drug companies because nobody would use a drug if they didn't know exactly what the substance used is. So the only protection oavailable to the drug companies are 'process secrets' - on how to manufacture the drug - and the patent system. So one tends to come out in favour of the patent system for drugs. Not so with software. Secrecy works as a protection in itself.
NOBODY enjoys the monopoly power as much as Microsoft - and nobody uses it more liberally.
There should be a time limit on how long this kind of knowledge can remain a trade secret. Evolution in software is actively hindered by the secrecy. If the core of the operating system was made public after some period of time that would force companies to actual aggresive invention - instead of just the introduction of more and more bloat, so the same basic functionality can be repackaged again and again to accrue more income from old work.
Posted by Claus at November 15, 2002 01:23 PM