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____/ Homer on Saturday 14 Nov 2009 01:10 : \____
> Verily I say unto thee, that bbgruff spake thusly:
>
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8343179.stm
>
> [quote]
> Intel is accused of paying millions of dollars each year - and "in some
> years billions" - in payoffs to computer makers in exchange for them
> only buying its chips.
>
> It is further said to have withdrawn this payments to punish those
> computer firms "perceived to be working too closely with Intel's
> competitors".
> [/quote]
>
> Hmm, now where have I heard that before?
>
> Oh yes:
>
> [quote]
> Microsoft, for instance, can grant or withhold market-development funds
> more or less at will under the new licensing agreements. Such funds pay
> for a substantial part of a PC maker's television and print
> advertisements and can add up to huge sums. PC makers that agree to ship
> all PCs with Windows, for example, can receive $10 per PC in market
> development funds.
>
> ...
>
> Gateway also faulted another provision of the new licensing agreement,
> which requires PC makers to pay a Windows royalty on every PC shipped,
> even if it didn't include Windows. To top it off, to qualify for market
> development funds, PC makers have to put a Microsoft OS on every PC. As
> a result, trying to sell non-Windows PCs, or even PCs without software,
> is a financial loser for computer makers.
> [/quote]
>
> http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-868413.html
>
>
> Companies shown to operate like this (i.e. like gangsters) should not
> just be fined, they should be forcibly liquidated. The company assets
> should be seized, along with that of upper management and directors,
> to be redistributed amongst their victims, then the thugs responsible
> should be imprisoned.
>
> But the sad and horrific fact is this sort of bizniz seems to be the
> de facto standard for commerce in the modern age, at least in the US.
>
> Take this, for example:
>
> [quote]
> Third-party financing of lawsuitsâoften described as a new and growing
> phenomenonâhas been much in the news lately. But outside investors have
> been making multimillion dollar bets on patent lawsuits for years. One
> of the field's leading players is Altitude Capital Partners, founded by
> investment bankers Robert Kramer and Warren Hurwitz. Altitude, which has
> been investing in patent lawsuits since at least 2006, boasts of having
> more than $250 million to spend on such litigation.
> [/quote]
>
> http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior_art/2009/11/altitude-capital-partners-altitude-nines-v-deep-nines.html
>
> Note the name of this "company", Deep Nine - no doubt the "enhanced"
> version of Deep Six, which is US slang for "kill".
>
> A company that "invests in litigation"?
>
> What sort of society tolerates, in fact encourages, this type of bizniz?
>
> What next, companies that sponsor serial murderer's killing sprees, to
> gain exclusive rights to the autobiography?
>
> Until the US, and other countries which model their bizniz methods on
> this sick American ideology, officially recognise the profound and
> intrinsic immorality of such thuggish business practises, companies like
> Intel and Microsoft will forever continue to operate like gangsters ...
> then indignantly proclaim their innocence, since they are, after all,
> only following the precepts of American culture - a culture that extols
> the virtues of brutality.
That's quite a generalisation. There are many good people who disagree
with the actions of their government, including those who find
other ways of doing business, e.g. Mozilla Foundation.
- --
~~ Best of wishes
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