Connor’s Blog

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Archive for category Politics

An Open Letter to the European Commission

Jun 13

Posted by Connor in Articles, Internet, Other Things, Politics

June 13th, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

As an avid tech enthusiast, I have been following your investigation of sorts into Microsoft’s anti-competitive practices in regards to its internet browser, Internet Explorer. To be frank, your investigation was not unwarranted: Microsoft’s dominance in terms of browser market share is impressive, at the least. But, just because a particular piece of software has dominance in an industry (Internet Explorer had control of 65.5% of the browser space as of May 2009 (1)) does not necessarily mean that it is participating in anti-competitive practices.

Now, before we can start to debunk the notion that Microsoft may be participating in such practices, we need to look at the source of this accusation: another browser, which, despite it’s more than twelve year existence in the industry, has yet to garner more than two percent of the desktop browser market share. Understandably, the company would like to place the blunt of the blame of this failure on Microsoft, and it’s, supposedly, anti-competitive actions. What Opera fails to realize, or, most likely, fails to inform others of is its own dominance in the mobile browser space. As of May 2009, Opera Mobile had control of over 24.6% of the mobile browser space (2). Now, if you were to calculate the iPhone and iPod touch as one entity instead of two, Opera loses the first place position, but in terms of this conversation, we are discussing Microsoft and Opera Software.

So, is Opera participating in anti-competitive practices as well? Of course they aren’t, and neither is Microsoft. Let’s create a real life scenario: if one particular consumer has a BlackBerry smartphone, they are free to download a mobile version of Opera’s web browser onto their device and use it over the built in web browser provided by RIM (the creators of the BlackBerry and its software). Likewise, a user with any modern version of Microsoft’s own Windows Mobile operating system can download a copy of Opera and use that over the mobile version Internet Explorer. This is the exact same case for the desktop: while a web browser may come bundled with an operating system, the end user is free to download another browser at will.

You see, the basic definition of the term anti-competitive is anything that attempts to stop competition between businesses. What I would like to ask you is this: how is Microsoft committing an anti-competitive action by shipping Internet Explorer bundled with its Windows operating system? Does Internet Explorer contain the ability to block other users from downloading another piece of software to browse the Internet? If not, which is the case, why is shipping a particular version of its own software anti-competitive? It does not bar users from finding and installing other alternative software. It does not limit them to what they can or cannot do. All it does is provide a medium for the end user, who, in a large number of cases, does not express a particular feeling for such a piece of software, to browse the Internet.

To the public’s knowledge, there has been no action taken by other web browser developers (notably Mozilla, the developers of Firefox, as well as Opera) to have their browser shipped on Windows. Likewise, there is no reason why OEMs (original equipment manufacturers, such as Dell and Acer) can’t ship another web browser alongside Internet Explorer on machines they build and distribute. As such, I believe it is safe to say that there are no anti-competitive actions occurring here.

To summarize, while Internet Explorer may have dominance in the internet browser market space, their lead does not necessarily constitute that anti-competitive practices are being used. Likewise, Opera (the original company that asked you to investigate Microsoft), has its own level of control in the mobile browser space. As far as anyone in the public can tell, neither company is doing anything that prevents their software (whether it is an operating system or browser) from stopping the downloading or use of another web browser. Browser developers have also, at least from the eyes of the public, have not reached out to offer their products alongside Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and, as such, should not claim that they are participating in such alleged illegal activities. Because of this, I believe your pursuit of such a case is absolutely outrageous and does not reflect any sort of understanding of the technology and software industries.

Thank You for Your Time,

Connor Wilkins

1. According to Net Applications’ monthly analysis of various market shares. (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0&qpmr=100&qpdt=1&qpct=3&qptimeframe=M)

2. According to StatCounter Global Stats. (http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-daily-20090501-20090531-bar)

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The True Celebrity, Life, and OS X Again: Inauguration Edition

Jan 21

Posted by Connor in Life, Politics

Wow, what a wild couple of days! I mean, history was made on so many levels. I will get to the Inauguration later in this post, so hold your horses. But, the first thing I want to talk about is my switchover to Mac OS X (again (again)). It has actually been going quite well, really. I have made myself at home with Leopard installed from the Retail DVD, so I have access to all Apple updates without having to resort to a hack or whatnot. This may not seem like that big of a deal, but for me it truly is. I mean, I still have some issues (such as lack of Quartz Extreme or Core Image), but I am looking into the matter. Other than that, it has been quite a fun experience. The only thing I haven’t gotten around to doing is syncing my iPod to the new system (the iPod is currently formatted for Windows), because it will take a good half hour at least to sync all of my songs and videos back to the device. Oh well, I’ll get to it someday.

So, how’s life been, you may ask. Well, pretty decent. I mean, other than the fact that I have 7 or 8 chemistry labs that are overdue, and if I don’t complete them by next Friday I won’t pass, or the fact that my French midterm is about an 80 now, but I am still failing for this quarter. But, other than that, it’s been pretty good :). Personally, I have been having some health issues that need to get checked out (mainly my stomach and it’s associated digestive problems), so I will be going to the doctor tomorrow morning to check up on it. I do suffer from acid reflux, but unfortunately, these new issues I am experiencing far outdo what is expected even with severe acid reflux. Hopefully it isn’t anything serious and maybe some medications can clear it up, or at least make me feel a bit better. Some of you may have noticed that my relationship status on Facebook changed from ‘Single’ to ‘In a Relationship’ a week ago. I am not ready to publically explain yet, but when I do, it will be quite a nice story (I haven’t told a good story on here in a long while :P).

And yes, finally, I want to talk about the history that was made yesterday. I think the picture below clearly explains it (click here for the full image):


Forget Obama (Just Kidding)!Meet Super Chinned Steve!

Forget Obama (Just Kidding)! Meet Super Chinned Steve!

Yes, our new President met Super Chinned Steve. Look at the excited expression on his face! And yes, Steve did impale the man across the street with his chin. I feel bad for the guy, but if you get in a super hero’s way, you’re bound to get burned. But, all joking aside, yesterday was a quite a powerful day for America. As an American, I feel both proud and accomplished at what we achieved yesterday. As I watched Barack Obama take the oath of office, I was in a state of disbelief that this was actually happening. We have a black president. Unfortunately, some people I know are not very happy about this (as Republicans and as racists in some regards), and ended up sending me the ‘Barack Obama Countdown Clock’ on Facebook, which displays the number of days until Obama’s first term ends. Luckily, my profile lists me as a Democrat, so I don’t have to worry about petty people thinking otherwise of me. I wish I could write more, but I need to get my labs in order so I can get to work!

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McCain Made a Awkward Choice

Aug 30

Posted by Connor in Politics

I have to admit, I was totally shocked to see that McCain picked the relatively unknown Sarah Palin for the VP spot on the Republican ticket this November. Since the day Mitt Romney suspended his campaign, I have been a firm believer that McCain and Romney made some sort of deal and that he would be the VP. That being said, Palin is probably one of the boldest and riskiest choices he could have made. Even Joe Lieberman (I-CT) would have been a more stable pick.

You see, unless you live in Alaska and/or have a knack for knowing governor’s names, you probably don’t know Gov. Sarah Palin. The shocking thing is that he picked somewhat not only unknown to most of the population, but someone younger and more inexperienced than Obama and Biden. That being said, I think she is an awkward, yet smart choice. Up until a year ago, who really knew Obama? Exactly. That being said, she is pro-life, so she looses my vote.

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No Digg Until November 5th, 2008

May 4

Posted by Connor in Politics

It seems like every day I go onto Digg to find at least one Barrack Obama story on the front page. No big deal really, since there are tons of pro-Apple, anti-Microsoft articles and of course the ever popular pro-marijuana, anti-RIAA/MPAA stories at any given time. But hey, I love Digg, just not Digg and election coverage. Every time I open up Firefox, it’s Digg and my email that open up. It is the best way for me to get all of my kind of news in one place. Tech stories, world news reports, and that fun dose of random stuff. It really is, when everything is said and done, an unbiased news source. You post an article you find, and anyone who wants to can either approve of it (Digg it), or disapprove of it (Bury it). This helps root out (in my opinion) biased articles, because everyone usually isn’t for one thing and completely against another.

It seems I have been wrong as of late, though. With the US Elections getting closer and closer (in both delegate counts and time until the election), more and more stories about the elections have been popping up. Not really a big deal. It allowed me to see the Reverend Wright’s anti-US comments in context. It allowed me to see that Clinton wasn’t really under sniper fire in Bosnia. This wouldn’t have been shown on TV, which is why Digg rocks, because it isn’t biased. Well, now it is.

So, why am I writing this article? Barrack Obama. I’m tired of seeing pro-Obama, anti-Clinton stories. It’s constant. Today I click a story about newly found pictures from Hiroshima after the atomic bomb drop back in 1945, and in the description of an article specifically about pictures of a WWII-era bombing, it criticizes Hillary Clinton! Tell me how that was called for. He quoted Clinton saying ‘Obliterate Iran’. Tell me this Obama supporters, would you rather have a President willing to attack a country training, funding, and supplying Islamic terrorists that are going into Iraq and killing United States troops, or one who just says (this is not a direct quote) “Let’s get the troops out of Iraq in 16 months.”? Would you rather have a President who wants to do a hasty withdraw of troops (1 year and 4 months), and then throw a country back into chaos? I am not saying Clinton has all the answers, but her plans make a little bit more sense. Why doesn’t Obama support the waving of the gas tax this summer? Gas just topped $4 a gallon down the street today, and when I have two parents who pay (combined) over $100 a week on gas, $250 every two weeks on groceries, a large mortgage and everything else, why won’t you support helping us out? “A massive loss of construction jobs” is what he says. Guess what, Obama, your wrong. You think that every week the Department of Transportation guesses how much money they made on gas taxes that week and decides to create a construction project to begin next Monday? No. They take the taxes every year and plan out projects for the next several years. A three month gas tax break won’t really affect anything, so get it straight Obama.

In the end, this may seem like an anti-Obama article, and you know what, it may be. I support Clinton, not Obama. This is just proving that not everybody is for ‘your’ candidate, and maybe you should stop being assholes, pretty much, and criticizing the other candidate in every article that mentions the word ‘world’, ‘elections’, ‘Obama’, or ‘black’.

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