The Warped Perspective: Napster vs. Microsoft

Kelly McNeill writes: “Microsoft is essentially a distribution monopoly, since anybody has the freedom to engage in unlimited ‘production’ of software. There is a strange sort of paranoia, it seems, among the people who really understand technology — that is, the people who create technology. They think that Big Brother is closing in on them, shutting down Napster, mandating secure communications with government back-doors, and protecting the copyrights of the very companies they claim to be prosecuting (read: Microsoft). What’s all this fuss about Napster, anyway? Why does the government pay farmers to stop growing things when people are starving? Does Microsoft have a monopoly? How can I protect my privacy on the Web? What in the world do these questions have in common, asks an OS Opinion article.”