This is really where I take issue with Afilias's proposal.Next
base was a small UK firm that pioneered the "Autoroute" program on the PC.
Version
1 was good, version 2 was very good, version 3 looked really nice and ran on windows.
It was better than the microsoft version (automap I think it was called).
Version
4 was bought by Mirosoft. It was released as Autoroute 4 in the UK and Automap 4
in the US. Registered owners were encouraged to send in the older versions in exchange
for Microsoft products.
Having bought the better competition, removing them from
the market the price more than doubled.
Sure Microsoft make good software (to a
point) but the problem with a monopoly is that it stifles competition.
Exactly
the same thing just happened with the Microsoft Game Voice. The microsoft product
was not as good so they bought the entire rival company - now its a department at
Microsoft!
I don't envy Microsoft for what htey have achieved. I just think it
would be a mistake to repeat the whole thing again.
I use Netscape. I like the
program but they very nearly went bankrupt because of the internet explorer 3 issue.
Now
people can choose to use Internet Explorer because they like it - not because it
is all thats available.
There are principals at issue here.
Vodaphone (UK) recently
bought Manesman Telecom (Germany).
Manesman had bought Orange (UK) a short while
earlier.
Hence - for a time Orange was a part of Vodaphone.
That meant that Vodaphone
owned two out of four mobile phone companies in the UK.
It was deemed to be unacceptable
and anti-competitive and they had to sell Orange (to France Telecom).
Now there
are still four companies and all four are offering calls at around 2 - 5 pence per
minute.
Vodaphone used to charge me around 50 pence per minute. The calls are clearer,
the coverage is better, the phones are cheeper and still the call charges are falling.
This free market is a good example of it working well for the consumer.
Now
if Vodaphone had just taken over Orange - what would have happened then?
Afilias,
Arthur Anderson and ICANN would have us believe that the two departments within the
same company would provide competition in the market. It really is silly isn't it?