Re: How to control the Internet.

[Blanc Weber <blancw@microsoft.com>]

And the island of Lanai and it's beaches are supposed to be part of the
State of Hawaii and therefore available to the public yet Bill was able
to block all access to the island for his wedding...  (Stink still going
on about that too)

-Jim Wilson
.................................
I can't say that everything that billg does or makes arrangements for 
with his clout will be defensible;  I can point out that any 
arrangements which he makes with others depends upon those individual's 
consent, their agreeableness, and not to coercion or the elimination of 
choice altogether.  (I don't know all of the details of how the closing 
off of those portions of the island was arranged, but I don't think 
that the owners of the island agreed to close off access simply out of 
the goodness of their hearts.) It is amazing what many people will 
agree to, when they can receive the benefit of cash, and this goes 
regardless of whether it comes from private one-to-one relations or 
whether it comes from governmental fund "distributions";  if there is 
someone to blame in that event, it would have to include the owners and 
all of those who were amenable to making it possible.

The threat of a monopolization of power which Bradley Dolan mentioned 
as being presented by Microsoft's dominance in the market is not of the 
same type as is presented by the government's.  From what I know about 
"intellectual property", this concept is supposed to establish the 
source of what has been produced (software) as belonging to its 
creator, and therefore as something akin to an object or service which 
can be traded and from which one can receive payment.  It's a way to 
make a living, in other words, based on the recognition of a value.

The only way that I can think of to counter the dominance of one 
company in the free exchange of goods is to desist from the purchase of 
that company's offerings, or better yet to produce better ones and make 
a better case for them with the buying public.

Blanc