[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“In the last few weeks, many people in the media have expounded
upon the end of the Microsoft era. It is now clear that, Penfield’s
recent appointment of Posner as mediator largely assures that
Microsoft shall not meet the same fate as Ma Bell. As Bill Gates
has also made it clear that Microsoft will not settle for any sort
of government regulation, the mediation process will probably have
very little real effect.”
“On the other side of the coin, in an antipodal galaxy, Redhat
revealed that it was consuming Cygnus, the driving force behind gcc
development. Many of the same forces in the media that have been
trumping the end of the Microsoft era, promptly suggested that
Redhat might be guilty of emulating Microsoft. Redhat’s
uncharacteristically pathetic release of 6.1, and recent IPO has
flamed the fears that Redhat has gone over to the Dark Side of the
Force. Unfortunately for Redhat, even if they were to strike a deal
with the devil, they couldn’t win.”
“Both Microsoft and Redhat have found their Achilles’ heel,
the community in which they live. Microsoft has spent vast
amounts of wealth and plenty of muscle to bully every other kid on
the block that it didn’t already own or could buy. In then end,
Microsoft ticked-off far too many wealthy and influential people,
and the biggest fish in the pond, the US Government began to throw
its weight around, at least be seen “protecting” the interests of
the community at large.”