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Subject: Re: Will chess programmers face the wrath of the DOJ?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 07:18:49 12/21/97

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On December 21, 1997 at 07:17:00, Amir Ban wrote:

>On December 20, 1997 at 17:51:40, Rajen Gupta wrote:
>
>>Now that the DOJ has made it illegal to include mare than one feature in
>>a software product(RE: windows 95 & IE3/4)unless you charge double or
>>triple the price, would chess programmers be the next targets of the
>>DOJ? Can Shredder be sold with end-game database? Is it fair for Fritz
>>to include a chess tree, a fairly substantial database and 3 very strong
>>chess engines and so many other features that are missing in other chess
>>programmes? Can Chessmaster 5500 be sold for 1/2 the price of other
>>programmes? Is Rebel 9 which includes the fantastic bonus CD Rom in its
>>purchase being fairly sold? and most important what about all the free
>>ware programmes,some which like crafty which are as strong as the
>>strongest?
>>
>>I wonder if I can complain to the DOJ about the above (I guess I can't
>>because I am not a multibillionaire)
>>
>>Rajen Gupta
>
>
>First, this would be anti-trust action and there should be a monopoly
>(trust) issue in the first place for the DOJ to take any notice. Second,
>I think that according to the DOJ criteria even owning 99% of the chess
>software market does not count as a monopoly that needs their attention.
>
>Amir


I think the DOJ simply went overboard, because there is *no* monopoly
anyway.
There is OS/2, Linux and Windows in the OS/market.  And there is IE,
Netscape and others in the browser market.  So this is simply another
stupid
knee-jerk reaction, just like the famous decision that nearly wrecked
the US
telecommunications market by attacking "Ma Bell".



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