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Unfair competition from the sun



This brings to mind French economist Frederick Bastiat's satirical essay
"The Candlemaker's Petition" in which denounces unfair competition from the
sun.  In it he writes of candlemakers who "request" a law to mandate "the
covering of all windows and skylights and other openings, holes, and cracks
through which the light of the sun is able to enter houses. This free
sunlight is hurting the business of us deserving manufacturers of candles."

Here is the latest salvo in the IM war.

CMGI's iCast and Tribal Voice have filed a complaint with the Federal
Communications Commission that will ask officials to "encourage" AOL to open
its network. The filing addresses interoperability only with the AOL Instant
Messenger (AIM) service and not with AOL's separate ICQ instant messaging
product.

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1755834.html

Here's my favorite part:

"Bullies are bullies and getting bigger rarely makes them more responsible,"
Margaret Heffernan, iCast chief executive, said in a statement forwarded to
CNET News.com.

Oh, the irony...

James