Government-Controlled Trust Hierarchies

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

TC May wrote Wed, 27 Jul 1994 11:44:


<I suggest we look very closely for connections between TIS and
<Microsoft, Apple, Novell, Sun, and any other major OS 
providers.



Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems, writes in today's Wall Street 
Journal on what he calls Microsoft's "monopoly" of operating 
systems.  He writes, in part:

Quote:

It's highly unlikely that the government will break up 
Microsoft. [. . .]  But there are several important steps that 
would help:

*  If the "system calls" for Windows, Windows NT, Chicago and 
other future operating systems were in the public domain, 
Microsoft programmers would have no unfair advantage over 
competitors in writing applications.

*  A multi-organizational group, including representatives of 
government, consumer groups, academia and business, could 
establish policy guidelines on publishing the specifications to 
interfaces, ensuring that they are free for all to use and 
changed with timely notice, and that the changes conform to 
established industry standards.

*  As the single largest purchaser of desktop computer systems, 
the government could then decree that it will never buy another 
computer system with principal interfaces that do not conform 
to these standards.  This would send an unmistakable message 
that open standards are the key to a free market.  This point 
is especially critical to guaranteeing that the information 
superhighway allows competition, innovation and choice.

End quote.