[thelist] AOL wants to buy RH Linux??

[Lachlan Cannon]

--- Keith <cache at dowebs.com> wrote:
> jeff
> 
> > in the meantime, wanna talk about a browser market with
> little to 
> no competition where the owner/distributor of the os also
> owns the 
> browser?
> > 
> 
> Well, let's see... There's only one company that
> currently fits your 
> description, Microsoft. Why do you think Microsoft should
> be the 
> only one who can get away with "no competition where the 
> owner/distributor of the os also owns the browser".
> What's wrong 
> with Nokia, AOL, Toyota, and/or General Foods getting
> part of the 
> action? Or three gals from Tampa for that matter? 

Oh, but hang on, Microsoft weren't allowed to get away with
that. They were taken to court. And even if the settlement
isn't what some people hoped it'd be, it's still a
compromise. And I don't see .jeff saying they should be
able to get away with this, he is just saying that if AOL
could do it, it'd be much worse than what Microsoft have
done.

> As for that article, did you notice anyone in the
> industry being 
> quoted? No, what's there is some moron reporter's fantacy
> on a 
> subject that's obviously over his little head. Imagine
> his scenario, 
> AOL forces 30 million currently paying customers to
> install Linux OR 
> quit using AOL. Right, like that's *really* gonna happen!
> AOL isn't 
> that dumb, by design AOL users have the lowest level of
> user 
> sophistication - so you force them to use an OS that
> requires one of 
> the highest levels of sophistication. Yeah, right!

So it requires a lot of sophistication to install. So what?
Does that mean that AOL wouldn't change it so it suited
their exact defaults if they wanted to, and changed the
code so that it only supported their programs?

And they'd have to distribute the code for it. Oh no.
Imagine if people were able to compile their own system
which used only AOL software. The horror those people must
feel.

It's true that no one was quoted in the article, but just
because there are no quotes to back it up doesn't mean it's
not something they'd do.

Lach

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