You are here

Microsoft: "end of PC era" means beginning of the regulated Internet era?

Ray Ozzie Chief Software Architect for Microsoft has declared the end of the PC or desktop era and has heralded in the "new era centered on the Internet." It is fascinating to me that Microsoft, one of the most fiercely competitive companies the planet has ever known, has chosen a public policy path of Net Neutrality, which asks the government to:
-- protect Microsoft from competitive broadband commercial practices;
-- give Microsoft average-pricing so Microsoft's above-average bandwidth usage can be subsidized by others less-than-average bandwidth usage; and
-- "bit police" the Internet.

Has it not occurred to any of the adult supervision at Microsoft that net neutrality irepresents much more of a snare than an opportunity for Microsoft?

Has the executive leadership and CFO thought through the business and stock-multiple implications of begging to be part of an increasingly regulated industry? Hello? Does anyone at Microsoft responsible to shareholders see the big picture here? 

Moreover, it's a real bad sign when a company like Microsoft asks the SEC, whose job it is to promote full disclosure, to stifle debate and disclosure about the wisdom of their net neutrality position to Microsoft's shareholders. Generally when one tries to avoid disclosure and openness about a PUBLIC policy issue, it signals internal dissent or fear of open discourse on the subject.