Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

The Case is Made Clearly

The only time I personally owned MSFT stock was just after Thomas Penfield Jackson’s second break-up ruling, when there might have been an upside. I sold it shortly after the Appeals Court nixed the only good idea—breakup—in favor of “let them pay a fine to be determined, and let them dawdle long enough that the […]

Reasons Market Share Declines

Michael Swanwick explains how a monopoly can destroy itself: Nowadays, times are much easier but a lot scammier. Last week I had to buy a new palmbook/laptop. Which, I discovered on my first and only day of possession, was preloaded with Windows 7 Starter, a not-fully-functional OS. When I tried to change the image on […]

Charlie Stross Explains It All to You

The rest is details: The reason I choose to pay through the nose for my computers is very simple: unlike just about every other manufacturer in the business, Apple appreciate the importance of good industrial design. but they’re nice details. (posted from my daughters’s “new” G4, which needs a new keyboard, but has a right […]

Maybe Songsmith isn’t Completely Useless after all

After the first round, I was convinced that Microsoft’s songsmith was at best, a way to produce mash-ups for the tonally impaired. Kieran Healy has convinced me otherwise, with this piece: capitalism in action, set to music: I believe this is what we meant when we talked about “creative destruction,” back in the days when […]

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 […]

Finance Quote of the Day

“This isn’t a matter of dissing Microsoft, but Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista,” the person said. From here, h/t Felix.