AOL To Offer Bounty For Space On New PCs

Post #2,875 by brettj 7/26/01 10:26:26 AM Reply	AOL To Offer Bounty For Space On New PCs It looks like the ruling by the Courts has enboldened some of Microsoft's competitors. They realize that that Microsoft can't retaliate the way they used to. This may be the first solid evidence that the ruling is starting to level the playing field. Cool. [link\|http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/168358.html\| AOL To Offer Bounty For Space On New PCs ] By Alec Klein, Washington Post NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 26 Jul 2001, 5:32 AM CST AOL Time Warner Inc. is moving aggressively to take advantage of Microsoft Corp.'s tenuous legal standing, seeking deals with computer makers to target consumers with subtle and direct marketing pitches that would help AOL grab more control of the computer desktop. In internal AOL documents, the media giant lays out a strategy that calls on manufacturers to build into their new personal computers icons, pop-up notices and other consumer messages aimed at pushing aside Microsoft by giving AOL's products prominent placement on PCs. It's the latest foray in an intensifying feud between the two technology titans over consumers and supremacy on the Internet.
Post #2,878 by Simon_Jester 7/26/01 10:55:59 AM Reply	Did you see Microsoft's quote... "AOL's actions are unprecedented and completely anti-consumer," said Microsoft spokesman Vivek Varma. "AOL is paying [computer makers] to eliminate consumer choice, forcing people to select the most expensive service in the industry." Stainless steel traps breed stainless steel rats.
Post #2,887 by CRConrad 7/26/01 11:25:15 AM Reply	Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaah!!!
Post #2,888 by Steve Lowe 7/26/01 11:27:24 AM Reply	The hipocracy is too blatant for mere words. ROFLMAO :-) ----- Steve
Post #2,915 by brettj 7/27/01 7:02:35 AM Reply	But wait. It gets better! :) Apparently, being stuck in the start-up menu instead of getting your own icon is anti-consumer and egregious! What story will the boys in Redmond innovate next? [link\|http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6691350.html?tag=mn_hd\| AOL wins space on Compaq desktops] July 26, 2001, 9:10 p.m. PT AOL Time Warner won an early victory Thursday in its battle with Microsoft for prominent placement of their icons on computer screens. Compaq said that it has decided to go ahead to feature AOL on its desktop screen, considered the prime piece of real estate on a computer. MSN would be relegated to the "start" menu, where a user would have to click and drag the cursor through at least two steps to get to the service. ... "It's not a question of AOL paying computer manufacturers to be present in the new machines. They have always done that," said Vivek Varma, Microsoft spokesman. "In fact, they are already distributed with over 90 percent of PCs. What they are doing here is paying computer manufacturers to eliminate alternatives and we think that's anti-consumer and troubling." Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer also weighed in at the company's annual analyst meeting, saying, "We've never told an OEM what they can and cannot ship, or tried to restrict what they can put on the operating system. The stuff AOL is doing now is just limiting market choice, it's just egregious."
Post #2,916 by Andrew Grygus 7/27/01 7:09:55 AM Reply	Let us all shed a tear for Mr. Balmer [link\|www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #3,059 by jb4 7/30/01 1:48:02 PM Reply	BWAAAAAAHHH!...snif...giggle...chortle...GUFFAW!!! What a lying sack of shit! Hey Steevo! Guess the shoe don't fit so good on the other foot, eh? jb4 (Resistance is not futile...)
Post #2,904 by Ashton 7/27/01 2:21:12 AM Reply	So we have 2 scurrilous monopolists battling over sheep instead of the one. I guess that's a kind of 'progress' - each imagines it 'owns' or ought to own, the molding of febrile minds towards Slot A or Slot B. I'm still waiting for Slots 3 thru n. As to this PopUp BS - only way to make that bulletproof is slip it into the BIOS. Wanna read your HD? Read US first - which gets (from me) an immediately returned system. The seller re-flashes that Trojan or eats the sale. Hmmm - maybe Award and Phoenix (if it still lives?) need some competition too: Free-BIOS Ltd: We restore your BIOS to operational condition, free of ugly commercial pollution.. $25 a pop? Can't this #^@@#%& bizness do Anything without filling every memory-cycle with another fucking Ad guaranteed to piss-off everyone? Murica 2001 - Buy 24/7 or Die. Ugly. And these machines have enabled this mindset to expand orders of magnitude. What atrocities await us in next 2-4 years? Ashton Are we smarter than maze-trained rats? OK - could we catch up then?
Post #2,920 by Simon_Jester 7/27/01 8:43:19 AM Reply	Hey don't knock it... It's sorta like AMD and Intel. Stainless steel traps breed stainless steel rats.
Post #3,060 by jb4 7/30/01 1:48:56 PM Reply	Re: So we have 2 scurrilous monopolists battling over sheep Aren't 2 monopolists better than one? jb4 (Resistance is not futile...)
Post #3,064 by addison 7/30/01 2:07:15 PM Reply	Errrr. I don't think you can have 2 monopolies.... Kinda by definition. :) (have to have differing markets) Addison
Post #3,090 by a6l6e6x 7/30/01 4:05:43 PM Reply	Re: Errrr. Sure you can. One has a monopoly in a market. They are monopolies in different markets. These companies all so happen to overlap in some markets e.g. both are IPSs where neither is a monopoly. Not by choice, however. Alex This is my sig. There's another almost like it, but this one is mine.
Post #3,091 by Ashton 7/30/01 4:10:23 PM Reply	You're right but.. One must take into account the fact that, in every Repo heart beats the mantra - If I spin this right, coerce the right folk far enough and - get away with it long enough to destroy the competition: I too can Own It All. Thus - yes, only One might be at the top of the razor blade technically: But every 'same order of magnitude' contender has Only One Goal. Left unscrutinized fir eine augenblicht: Well, we know. A. (Poor underdog MicroSoft VS Big Bad Blue, anyone? All that lugubrious free sympathy for young Billy and his horde .. and their date with destiny)
Post #3,252 by jb4 7/31/01 1:28:06 PM Reply	You can't have two monopolIES, but you can have... ...two or more monopolISTS. Monopolist is a state of mind, one that eschews the mantra (and myth) of "free market" in favor of "it's mine! It's ALL MINE!!! And I'll do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make it ALL MINE!!! The Ends justify the Means!" Hope that clarifies. jb4 (Resistance is not futile...)

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