[Sussex] Microsoft fails to comply

[Mark Harrison (Groups)]

Geoffrey J Teale wrote:

>I'm going to repeat my quiz question from last night (sorry if I missed an
>answer from anyone) - One party in the UK has Open Source software use
>as an item in it's manifesto.  Which party is it?
>
>  
>
Geoff,

Thanks for that. I suspect I have just determined who I shall vote for
in May :-)

I'm generally very sceptical of anyone who bangs on about "rich
corporations" and misses the point that, in the UK at least, these "rich
corporations" are predominantly owned, not by a small number of "fat
cats", but by big pension funds, and therefore by those of us who hope
to receive a pension when we quit work. (I for one, don't believe that
the state pension is sustainable, and I think that anyone in their 20s
or 30s who is banking on it is in for a nasty shock.)

However, in this particular case, having read the rest of the article
from which you quote, on their website, they make it clear that they are
talking about issues such as transfer pricing, transnationals, and are
advocating things like "site to sell". Even more, I find myself very
much aligned with what they say, despite the fact that I firmly in
capitalism.

I think, as ever, that they're over-simplifying, and I don't think
that's _quite_ what economic theory says, but in the case of mass-market
software there's no material difference between what they claim, and
what economic theory really says. (Namely, that goods should actually be
priced at the sum of the marginal cost of production, plus an
amortisation of the fixed costs of production assuming the largest
possible market.)

Regards,

Mark