From: Adam Flinton 

Geo. wrote:
> "Adam Flinton"  wrote in message
> news:3ecdd615$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>
>
>>But why would offering the same price with the same incentive in mind
>>(i.e. to drive out competition ("Don't lose to Linux") be
any fairer if
>>applied to all?
>
>
> Because it is possible to give product away to one company while funding
> that give away with the profits from 4 other sales but if every sale has to
> be at the same price then either you make a profit or you don't on every
> sale. You can't say, "don't lose to linux" without giving every other
> customer the same deal.
>

I would say that yes as a dominant monopoly there should be some enforced
equality wrt buyers. To a degree the US courts did this wrt PC builders
buying windows licences.


>
>>What the law is there to stop is not people charging what the market
>>will stand but to stop people abusing a dominant market position.
>
>
> We aren't talking about what the market will stand, we are talking about
> what each individual sale will stand. It's like selling cars if you don't
> have to charge everyone the same price for the same car.
>

You don't with cars. A family member of mine has in the past done fleet car
buying for a large company. He still keeps his "tricks of the
trade" negotiating knowledge & he nearly always gets quite a
startling deal.

Start by reading the papers on models which aren't shifting as fast as the
manufacturer thought they would....this means they will have excess stock
they are desparate to get rid off....

Adam

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-4