Re: [tlug] Re: Post my article on tlug.jp?

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On Sun, 29 Jul 2007, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

> Curt Sampson writes:
>
> > But I did think about it! I know well that some of the money I spend on
> > my laptop went to MS. But again, the bottom line of what I pay is the
> > same either way.
>
> This is standard economic thinking.  However, Lyle's definition of
> "free" and his apparent belief that money paid to Microsoft costs more
> than money paid to another vendor are not unique to him, such beliefs
> have real economic effects....

Well, yes, and it should be (and seems to me easy enough to) include in
a standard economic analysis.

In my case, I'm just looking for a piece of hardware on which to run
NetBSD. Whether money goes to MS or not is of little account to me.

In Lyle's case, perhaps, it's important to him that money *not* go to
MS, and possibly he's even willing to buy a piece of hardware that he's
less happy with, or pay more for the same piece of hardware if he can
avoid money going to MS. It's a perfectly valid desire, and is expressed
all the time in those with a preference for products not made with child
labour, for example.

Getting back to the original argument, though, I strongly suspect that
most consumers of computers care very little where the money goes after
they spend it.

> ...an excellent layman-readable account of the
> basic ideas is Robert Frank's "Passions Within Reason".

Looking though a few of Robert H. Frank's works on Amazon, he looks like
a fascinating writer.

cjs
--
Curt Sampson       <cjs@example.com>        +81 90 7737 2974
Mobile sites and software consulting: http://www.starling-software.com