[Mimedefang] OS wars... [was Viruses: Bounce or Discard?]

[Jeffrey Goldberg]

On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, David Meissner wrote:

> [...] I don't think end users are unwilling to accept responsibility, I
> think that computers are impossible to use and end users have no way of
> knowing what to do.

For me, maintaining my car so that it is safe and legal on the road is
beyond my capacity.  That is why I pay a professional.  If that
professional screws up, I'm still liable, but I can try to recover my
losses from the professional I hired.

In a world where equiptment owners are held responsible for obnoxious
behavior of their equiptment, there will be a variety of "insurance"
schemes available to the end user.  The market will take care of that.
Some users may buy a product or service which helps maintain their systems
and will pay some of the fines/fees under certain circumstances.  Some
users may choose to go it alone.  Some users may pick ISPs that severely
restrict access.  And so on.

At the risk of sounding like a Chicago zealot, if you put the true costs
where it belongs, the market will take care of the rest.

In such a market, I am sure that MS would start behaving in a way that a
zillion regulations and consent decrees could never achive.

-j

-- 
Jeffrey Goldberg                            http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/
 Relativism is the triumph of authority over truth, convention over justice
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