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[Thomas Beckett <thomas AT tbeckett.com>]

Edward Wesolowski wrote:
> Thanks for the thoughtful, useful reply here. I've always felt that
> something like standard gauge railroad tracks or standard 60 Cycles per
> second AC is neat, in one way,  because national rail service is possible,
> or because it's great to use electricity with all these terrific
> appliances. The other side of the coin seems brutal, tho.
> >... a priopietary "standard" locking out the competition
> >...MS can put any software they want in their OS, which means that they'll
> >eventually pick off each part of the software industry one by one

        The key word here is "proprietary".  Most technical standards like
railroad gauges, 60 hz AC, and so forth are established by agreement
among several players within a given industry and controlled by the
government (NSI) or trade groups.  Most industry standards are
established and managed openly.  Microsoft wants to establish standards
for a huge segment of our world and control them from behind closed
doors.  Brutal, yes.

        I agree that Michael gave a damned fine analysis of the situation.  

TaB