Reply #123: Some quick replies

[redeye]

M$: Windows' market share is estimated to be about 95%. It can only be estimated because some people get Linux from the net and thus aren't included in the statistics. This qualifies M$ as a monopoly. Moreover, I don't have a problem with all monopolies; it'd be a little idiotic for there to be competing roads ("the GM-I-5 is longer than the Ford-I-5 but also has prettier scenery"), gas pipelines, or so on, but not for there to be competing OS's.

OPEC: It's happened in the past, but reality is that even when some members cheat, prices still go much higher than they'd be without collusion. In 1999, for example, OPEC almost doubled its prices and no one cheated.

The Depression: You're partly right. Protectionism exacerbates Depressions but doesn't cause them, and even so, it only exacerbates them in that everyone loses when everyone does it. Part of the reason the IMF and WTO exist is to prevent that from happening again; in other words, there's an international policy to coordinate national policies.