Why Government Doesn't Work: on Technology

Competition makes high tech work--keep it unregulated

Apple Computer saw a chance to profit by offering potential buyers an easier way than MS-DOS, with the Macintosh computer in 1984. Not to be outdone, Microsoft developed a competing system, called Windows, with many of the same benefits as the Macintosh, plus a few more. IBM offered another pictorial system, called OS/2, that had still more benefits.
• It was competition among profit-seeking companies, not regulation, that made computers easier to use.
• It was competition, not regulation, that cut computer prices by over 95% between 1981 and 1995.
• It was competition, not regulation, that made computers faster and more powerful.
• It was competition, not regulation, that made them more reliable.