Star Mac OS Market Share Figures
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 21st Sep 2006 15:15 UTC
Mac OS X Apparantly, it's damn lies statistics time again in the Apple world, boys and girls. A few days ago, Net Applications published OS market share figures which showed that the market share of the Mac OS remained largely flat over the past year. However, today, the Switchtoamac website posted an article which looks at the same set of figures in a different way, only to conclude that when you compare last year's figures to this year's, the Mac OS has risen 25% in marketshare. We all know the saying: there are lies... Damn lies... Funny detail: while the debate rages on about half percentage points for the Mac OS, Windows XP increased its share by 8 percent the past 12 months. According to these figures, of course.
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RE[2]: The monopoly continues
by nalf38 on Thu 21st Sep 2006 19:48 UTC in reply to "RE: The monopoly continues"
nalf38
Member since:
2006-09-01

"The question of ever getting real competition again should be decided by the marketplace and innovation...not by politicians."

Big disagreement on that one. For one, marketplace and innovation do not necessarily go hand in hand. Second, history tells us the exact opposite. Without monopoly busting by the government, we'd still be buying crappy phone service from Ma Bell along with their overpriced long-distance service. There would be no MCI, Sprint, or any other long-distance company you can think of.

We'd be paying even more for gasoline than we do today (US vs. Standard Oil), and price fixing between competitors would be legal.

Regulating monopolies might have pitfalls, but laissez-faire capitalism isn't the answer. Advocating the complete absence of legislation in favor of laissez-faire relies on the same assumption that Communism did---that everyone is as high-minded and morally incorruptible as you are, and that is never ever the case. The best products don't always prevail under that system, if the company with the largest marketshare can successfully force everyone to buy their inferior product by OEM deals and taking a loss on pricing to increase marketshare.

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RE[3]: The monopoly continues
by Harald on Thu 21st Sep 2006 19:59 in reply to "RE[2]: The monopoly continues"
Harald Member since:
2006-03-10

All good points, nalf38.

And you're right on all accounts.

I guess I'm just expressing my frustration that too many folks have thrown in the towel and thinking the DOJ and EU are the only avenues of recourse.

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dylansmrjones Member since:
2005-10-02

You are making a mistake here.

You think the companies can force us due to large marketshare... that's not the case.

They get the large market share because they can force us through law. In a system laizzes-faire capitalism there would be no patents and no limitations at all in competition, and therefore no way for companies to become big - unless it is due to people not caring. Powerful companies are powerful ONLY because they can buy power and therefore change the laws according to their needs.

That's why we've had increasingly tightened copyright laws the last century.

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RE[3]: The monopoly continues
by Tuishimi on Sat 23rd Sep 2006 04:13 in reply to "RE[2]: The monopoly continues"
Tuishimi Member since:
2005-07-06

Ironically, the "baby bells" have again begun to "remerge". I wonder how long it is before we once again have a "ma bell."

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