When Government regulates the public loses!

When Government regulates the public loses!

I think it is good if Microsoft competes aggressively. I do not think that they should be regulated in any way. It is, otherwise, like stopping, a political party for getting” too many votes” and for competing aggressively and then accusing the winning party to be a monopolist (in the political process you will have this “monopoly” by only getting majority votes).

When people buy products, they, by these very actions, actually, vote for those products. We should accept and respect that. Talk is really cheap and only actions count. Only by actions people manifest their true values. The political process is, therefore, no substitute for the complex market process. If, for instance, people do not like Microsoft’s actions and “attitude”, they will try out alternatives. Those values counts and influence the market outcome.

It is not, only, the quality of the products that counts. Advertising is very important too. If consumers do not know about products, what good are they? How can products that no one knows about benefit the common man?

Innovation in itself is of no value if the consumers do not demand it. If some products are technologically superior to others and are not demanded, it does not prove that anything is wrong. It is an illusion to ask the “experts” which products that should “dominate the marketplace”. Because people are happy in those cases with the inferior ones and it is this “happiness” and consumer satisfaction that counts. If this “happiness” is dependent upon ignorance, advertising, as mentioned, is demanded and will be profitable.

The price of a product depends upon how much the consumer values it. For instance, the market price for a house is not the same as the market price for a glass of milk. If, for example, the OS Vista will not be highly valued by the consumer, the price of it will fall. If it will be highly valued, consequently, the price will be high. So, Microsoft has every incentive to make, in the point of view of the consumers (and not in the eyes of some “experts”), a valued OS.

I also think that it is good that Apple and Linux compete aggressively with each other and with Microsoft. In some market segments Apple is the leader and in the server market, Linux is the leader.

The essence with this comment is that the market process is a very complex thing and all sorts of values are “computed” and taking account for. Only the market process can handle this complexity and satisfy human wants and this process can only work properly if the market is free. Governments are no substitutes for the market process.

Björn Lundahl
Göteborg Sweden