Battalion
PINION
Page 9 • Friday, February 26, 1999
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Snistra-
§n, is best re
membered for
Muote,
at’s good
tie country is good for Gen-
Motors, and vice versa. ”
day, that quote could best
plied to the computer
iRtany Microsoft, a company
E |provides thousands of jobs,
ns of dollars in taxes and
(revolutionized the comput-
dustry in this country and
ghout the world.
[despite all the good Mi
lt does, it is now under at-
from the Department of Jus-
br anti-trust violations and
nly business leader with a
e public image than Bill
|s is Montgomery Burns,
is not a good thing,
icrosoft is being demonized
aring to market its Internet
ser, Internet Explorer, as part of its
jdows 98 operating system. This is
lidered restraint of trade because
90 percent of the computers on
[planet run off of Windows,
joth the federal government and most
icrosoft’s major competitors believe
if Microsoft is allowed to market an
net browser with Windows, no one
EL pH have any incentive to buy a compet-
irowser.
his is of course a baseless fear. Mi-
oft’s main competitor in the browser
>stry, Netscape, already controls 40
:ent of the market and its browser is
lable free on the Internet,
he browser industry is open to com-
[ion, which means the company
produces the best product at the
ipest price is going to win. Win-
sdoes give Microsoft a powerful
^Wantage in this market, but it does
3"# 01 mean Microsoft possesses a monop-
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LOSS
oly, which requires government in
volvement should not be involved.
This is a capitalist economic system,
companies that do not engage in predato
ry business practices are companies that
fail. The reason Microsoft has been so
successful is because Bill Gates under
stands this.
Microsoft pulled a David and Goliath
on the once seemingly invincible IBM, an
object lesson that has never been lost on
Bill Gates. He understands that the com
puter industry is constantly changing (as
anyone who has had the distinct pleasure
of buying a computer only to find it is
obsolete three months later should
know) and that if Microsoft does not ag
gressively market its products and work
to crush its competitors, it will get
crushed.
Microsoft is by no means all powerful.
Its main strength is software for personal
computers, an important market but one
that is declining in importance. The per
sonal computer market is completely sat
urated, with most sales now coming from
replacements of older models not new
customers.
This means if Microsoft wants to con
tinue the aggressive expansionist policies
that have made it so successful, it is go
ing to have to enter new markets.
Computer industry specialists believe
the next major markets will be servers,
information appliances and embedded
software systems. These are all markets
with established companies that are
more than capable of defending them
selves and Microsoft has been flounder
ing in its attempts to compete with them.
Microsoft’s Win2000 product is al
ready over two years behind schedule
(crippling Microsoft’s efforts to compete
in the critical business server market),
Microsoft Network only has two million
customers compared to the 16 million
held by America On-Line and then there
is Microsoft’s Web TV, the biggest com
mercial flop since New Coke. Microsoft is
still an immensely powerful company but
it faces ferocious competition in most of
the markets it will need to expand in to
survive.
It is appropriate to expect Microsoft to
fight for its life in the marketplace, it is
not appropriate to expect it to fight for its
life in the courts.
Microsoft provides good products at
reasonable prices and in doing so has
made computers widely available across
the whole country. It pumps billions of
dollars into the economy every year,
making the entire country richer. It helps
facilitate the development of new tech
nologies that improve the lives of every
one.
In other words, Microsoft is good for
the country. Which means this anti-trust
suit has to be bad for the country. Mi
crosoft has achieved its prominence by
beating its competition on the open mar
ket; it should not be punished for being
GABRIEL RUENES/The Battalion
successful.
With the net value of Microsoft stock
currently valued around 400 billion dol
lars, can the country afford to risk dam
aging a company that plays that vital of
a role in the national economy? Gates is
a smart man; he knows if he gets lazy
and complacent he will get crushed in
the marketplace, which is precisely why
he has never gotten lazy and compla
cent.
His competitors are understandably
frustrated and are trying to use the
power of the federal government to beat
the man they have found to be unbeat
able.
Maybe they should work on improv
ing their own products instead? Microsoft
makes this country richer, stronger and
better; it should be allowed to continue
to do this.
Brendan Gay is a senior political
science and history major.
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jCS. Ciw 6 '
xical merchants need to stop
iking advantage of Aggies
ost people know
, college students
vitep w JLa re “broke.” So,
ARMS/ ih\ does everything cost
e in college towns?
his is a huge mystery
ggies, as well, as oth-
ollege students.
Students at Texas A&M
being financially ex
ited by businesses, as
Christian
ROBBINS
fill 2
aiflyoPP 1
as, Texas A&M University. According to
ws story on KBTX-TV, College Station
chants consider Aggies to be the lifeline
iheir businesses.
his is not a startling discovery consider-
the businesses charge students more for
jties, groceries, gas and other everyday
s, than they would be able to charge in
other city.
n College Station, students pay astro-
ical prices to live in apartments that
Id be considered sub-standard in a ma-
metropolitan city. Rent, food, car repair
almost all items bought on-campus cost
re on average than in normal areas,
he only possible reason why businesses
the need to charge so much is they
Ihinkthat students can afford it, but this is
jbviously not the case since many Aggies
Beet some form of federal financial aid
[rkto help offset the cost of tuition.
Veil,” the local businessman thinks, “if
any students have jobs, then surely they
afford to pay our high prices.”
Wrong conclusion, Mr. Businessman,
allege students cannot afford high prices
not only are they being exploited fi-
cially by being overcharged, but they are
ig exploited economically by being under-
idby employers in the Bryan-College Sta-
Harea.
itudents in college towns are generally
less than their counterparts in other
,es because businesses know there is an
ndance of cheap labor,
he average yearly salary for a college stu-
before taxes is $11, 550.
.ccording to the United States Govern-
,this is below the poverty level. Stu-
tswho are part-time workers make less
than $5760 a year.
Given (he situation, it is disgraceful that
businesses would charge students more mon
ey for basic necessities.
How do businesses justify this travesty of
justice?
“Students can get money from their par
ents.” This is obviously not the case or stu
dents would not get jobs to offset tuition.
Not all Aggies depend solely on their par
ents for financial support and parents who
do support their children financially should
not have to pay for price hikes, in addition
to high tuition.
“Students can use coupons.” Some busi
ness do give good coupons and those busi
ness deserve congratulations, but if an item
costs the same without the coupon, then why
waste the paper?
“Local businesses donate money to A&M,
thus giving students their money back.” Stu
dents donate to A&M programs at the begin
ning of each semester. It is called tuition.
Donation should not be a justification for
high prices. Donating to Texas A&M pro
grams is in the best interest of Bryan-College
Station merchants and most importantly it is
tax-deductible.
The problem has been stated, so what is
the solution? Aggies could live in tents on
campus and eat only at Hot Dog, Etc., but it
rains too much here. Or Aggies could boycott
local merchants, but that would result in
tremendous suffering.
Businesses know students have classes to
worry about and do not have the time or en
ergy to organize protest rallies over the price
of milk.
Basically, there is no solution because stu
dents would have to give up eating, working,
shopping and sleeping, so they have no
choice but to patronize business that take ad
vantage of them.
The only other hope is for the businesses
to realize the error in their ways, realize that
Aggies are not cash cows and respect them fi
nancially for being the lifelines of their busi
nesses.
Christian Robbins is a junior speech
communications major.
Quoted presidents
not actually Christian
In response to Ryan McMullan’s
Feb. 25 mail call.
This is in reply to the mail call
that implied that our founding fa
thers were Christian and that our
nation was founded on the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
My friend, you are sorely mistak
en. A majority of the founding fa
thers were either Deists or Unitari
ans.
It was interesting to me that you
so eagerly spout off quotes without
any references. Unfortunately I will
not afford you that same luxury.
I preserve the truth of the Amer
ican history, and that history is that
this nation was designed to be sec
ular.
Thomas Jefferson once said
that Morris, a friend of Washing
ton’s, “often told me that General
Washington believed no more of
that system (Christianity) than he
himself did,” {Memoir and Corre
spondence of T. Jefferson, IV, p.
512).
James Madison said “in no in
stance have ... the churches been
guardians of the liberties of the
people” {The Religious Beliefs of
Our Presidents, Steiner).
In a letter to John Adams, Jeffer
son decries the Christian God as a
“hocus pocus phantasm of a God,
like another Cereberus, with one
body and three heads” (Steiner).
Our second president of the
United States, John Adams said
“the divinity of Jesus is made a
convenient cover for absurdity” and
“this would be the best of all pos
sible worlds, if there were no reli
gion in it” (two separate letters in
A Bibliographical Dictionary of An
cient, Medieval, and Modern Free
Thinkers).
Other founding fathers and presi
dents that were not Christian are
the following: Abraham Lincoln,
Thomas Paine, John Quincy Adams,
and Ulysses S. Grant.
MAIL CALL
Nathan Bosdet
Class of ’02
Accompanied by 11 signatures
Reconstruction era
laws good for Texas
In response to David Lee’s Feb. 24
opinion column.
After reading David Lee’s column
on Governor George W. Bush, some
facts need to be stated in response
to his misinformed comments on re
construction.
Among the measures that were
passed after the Civil War, mainly by
Radical Republicans, were laws to
strengthen the Freedman’s Bureau,
civil rights’ acts, the 13th (which abol
ished slavery), 14th, and 15th amend
ments.
Black people were able to attain
voting rights, own land, become politi
cians, become educated and have
other rights. Many black colleges
were created during this period.
Under the provisions of the Morril
Land Grant College Act, Texas A&M
and Prairie View A&M were created.
The existence of these schools
can be credited to ex-slave Matthew
Gaines and other Black legislatures of
the Reconstruction.
Yet, right-wing forces of the Democ
ratic Party of the late 1800s passed
segregationist Jim Crow laws. They
also passed the grandfather clause,
poll tax, and the literacy test that cre
ated barriers for Blacks to vote.
The final nail in the Reconstruction
coffin was the Supreme Court’s Plessy
vs. Ferguson ruling in 1896 which up
held the “Separate but Equal” doc
trine. The ruling was not overturned
until the 1954 Brown vs. Board deci
sion.
So I wonder now which group does
Lee consider brutal and ruthless?
Because of courageous people,
the civil rights movement came.
Earl Smith
Graduate Student
Quayle would make
good U.S. president
In response to David Lee’s Feb.
IC.opinion column.
Many in the media attempt to dis
credit Dan Quayle because of his
miss spelling of the word “potato.”
One only need watch Jay Leno’s
“Headlines”segment on Monday
nights to see some of the stupid mis
takes the media makes on a regular
basis.
I’m sure the Battalion insiders
know of many mistakes that their
own paper also makes on a regular
basis.
It is said that, “Actions speak
louder that words,” so let us not
judge Quayle on his petty slip-ups, but
rather let’s judge him on his record.
Author of the bestseller Standing
Firm, Quayle was standing for family
values before it was popular.
He was also one of the most ac
tive Vice Presidents in our nation’s
history.
I have read his book Standing
Firm, and I have had the opportunity
to hear him speak.
Nothing he said either in his book
or in person was in the slightest bit
uneducated.
As a matter of fact, Dan Quayle is
one of a few politicians that truly in
spires me. As an American, I would
be proud to one day call Dan Quayle,
“Mr. President.”
Brian McCauley
Class of ’02
The Battalion encourages letters to the editor.
Letters must be 300 words or less and include
the author’s name, class and phone number.
The opinion editor reserves the right to edit let
ters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may
be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald
with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed
to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-1111.
Campus Mail: 1111
Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: batt@tamvml.tamu.edu