I can remember back 10 to 15 years ago when the biggest problem the average consumer had with his or her PC was determining which application software would work with the multitude of operating systems in existence. Microsoft (Bill Gates) saw that the key to this promising market was the average consumer, and then the business consumer. Sell a system that Joe Six Pack could use and everything else would follow. So Bill Gates adapted his operating system to the market, marketed it better than everyone else, made applications that could be used on it and made it so that it could be transmitted across the world. And everyone loved it. All except those who couldn’t sell their product to the rest of us.
Now, the Justice Department and Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson want us to believe that no one else has the opportunity to compete, that they know what is good for us dumb consumers concerning markets and the economy. They don’t seem to realize that the computer industry is the one industry with the unlimited potential for Joe Six Pack to succeed. Anyone with a PC can create his or her own success without being beholden to someone larger, and without having to spend a lot of money.
I guess Judge Jackson is telling us that all this is bad for us. The real message is that if you try to be too successful, you will be shot down.
