Save car companies...break up Microsoft

I spent an hour this morning un-installing and reinstalling the software for my new printer.The software was last installed less then ten days ago, but it seems that the auto updates that Microsoft installed overnight threw something off.

Now I'll admit that I am not technically proficient (and have no real desire to become so.)But then I got in my American made Jeep that has 36,000 miles on it and went to get the paper. And the Jeep ALWAYS works. I never have to do anything but change the oil on a regular basis.

What's the connection?Automakers are pilloried and reviled...but their products work...and are a huge improvement over cars manufactured just twenty years ago.My computer has some kind of an issue just about once a month. Even when I worked for a large corporation, about once a month you had to track down the IT guy to get him to come fix something.

Microsoft puts out inferior products because they can...there have no competition.Auto makers by and large have to turn out cars that are dependable and easily serviced. They have strong competition and groups like Consumer Reports and others are constantly evaluating and grading their products.Ever seen A Consumer Reports piece on Windows...of course you haven't... to what would they compare it?

I haven't done the research, so I don't remember why the government dropped its anti-trust case against Microsoft during the Clinton Administration, but it's time to give it another go.As a conservative with strong libertarian leanings, I'm generally against overbearing government regulation and anti-trust suits. By and large these suits fail. I also have seen studies that show that anti-trust cases don't improve competition or result in better products.

But the government does a role in setting some rules of the road...and fighting huge monopolies is part of this.In PJ O'Rourke's book "All the Trouble in the World" his greatest revelation came when he visited the new Russia. O'Rourke is hard core libertarian. But he changed his mind somewhat after his experience watching the newly capitalist Russia. He realized that the government has to set some rules and do some oversight...unfettered capitalism doesn't automatically create the conditions necessary for healthy competition and in our software operating systems market, there is no competition.

Microsoft is a clearly a monopoly, and reminds me of the most successful anti-trust case the government has prosecuted....the break-up of AT&T.I have some personal relationship to this case. My father was an employee of Southern Bell and AT&T for thirty years and he spent a large part of his career working in government relations. Judge Harold Greene, who was the primary judge in this case, was a name I heard around our house.When I'd ask my father if AT&T was a monopoly, he would often say “Of course not...there are 26 telephone companies in South Carolina alone."

Regardless of whether AT&T met the absolute standard of a monopoly, the break up revolutionized telephone service. Service (and the kind of services offered) went up, and prices went down.Part of the reason was AT&T was operated on a unnatural business model. AT&T's margins on long distance were unnaturally high in order to support low cost local service (This was not AT&T's fault. The government insisted that it provide universal local service at an affordable rate.)

As soon as AT&T was broken up, long distance rates came down tremendously, which provided economic benefits to businesses and consumers. I still remember that even though my family's long distance was free, we only called the grandparents on Sunday nights, and passed the phone around rather quickly to say just a few words...my father was never one to take the slightest advantage of his employer. Now long distance is free for everyone.

If Microsoft actually had to compete in the operating systems market, imagine how many consumers would switch from Windows to something else. I'd do it in a heartbeat. It's been said before, but it's worth repeating. Windows isn't (and wasn't) the best operating system out there. But Gates and his team were the best businessmen out there. They were and are ruthless competitors, and they crush anyone who dares to assault their market position.

In a great Simpson's episode, Homer starts a website that becomes moderately successful. Gates and his flunkies show up at the Simpson house....Homer thinks he's about to cash in. But instead the Microsoft gang just destroys everything. Gates' character says "I didn't get rich by writing checks."

This is not far from the truth...there is plenty of evidence of Microsoft using predatory pricing or other illegal methods to prevent competing products from reaching the market.

It's time to break up Microsoft.

(I'm sure this is a coincidence, but as I'm writing this, the spellcheck feature on blogspot goes out....maybe I should slowly just step away from the machine.)