[ale] AOL sues Microsoft

[jeff hubbs]

The opinion that I've formed over the past couple of years (and even at 
that, I think I may have been a little slow on the uptake) is that large 
companies, having exhausted *legitimate* means to increase profits, have 
nudged themselves and each other into *ILlegitimate* means to increase 
profits.  For the most part, they find operating in that regime 
hospitable or have been able to help make it so by manipulating the 
political/legislative process.  If the state fails to frown on such 
behavior, there's always the court of public opinion - but what if the 
issues are complex and/or subtle, and what if the end result as 
perceived by the public is actually attractive to them somehow?  A 
simple pleasure directly and immediately obtained versus a protracted, 
sub-surface, abstract, collective harm?

I used to be a big MS cheerleader, but then again, I was able to see 
where all the threads connected because, well, I'm that type of person, 
so I went looking for something else and found it in Linux/OSS.  If, as 
an IT manager, I go with OSS where I can, my relationship with vendors 
changes a lot; I'm nowhere near as helpless and hapless.  Mostly, I get 
to choose where I spend my money and for what.

- Jeff


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