I Wish I TA’ed Monopolistic Competition instead of Economic Development

Everyone should read Joe Wilcox’s update, based on the release of more court docs, on the ongoing saga of Why Vista Sucked on Release. (Short version: because Intel asked.)

Teaser quote, which would look fine in Mankiw or Krugman’s next Macro text:

Based on the available information, I come to an easy conclusion: One monopoly colluded with another for economic gain—and in this instance causing harm to Microsoft, its partners and customers. Matters were even worse than intended, because Microsoft delayed Vista:

  1. Vista-inferior chip sets stayed in market longer than they otherwise should have.
  2. More consumers bought PCs incapable of fully running Aero Glass.
  3. Notebooks were disproportionately affected, because the state of the art was even lower than for desktops.

So if the guys at Compaq wonder why I will never buy one of their products again, they may have a legitimate argument that it wasn’t all their fault. But it doesn’t change the reality—or, if you prefer, the Externality.