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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steve Conan Trustrum" data-source="post: 3144066" data-attributes="member: 1620">So the remaining comparable competitors in the market are ... ?Sure they can. And the chances of them doing so while being able to grant a competitive portion of the market are ... ?I think you're confused. Nobody is discussing what the RIGHTS are of the parties involved. They're debating the proposed points that this is good for the market, won't affect profits or prices, doesn't infringe on the sort of competition that drives a market, etc. I don't think you'll find anyone here saying that James and Steve are beyond their RIGHTS.So, if Apple and Microsoft were to merge how easy do you think it would be for a start-up to jump in and introduce a competative OS alternative to the market? Because that's essentially what we're talking about here: the two companies that, BY FAR, hold the majority of the market under their influence, merging. I don't think you're quite aware of how the previous competition between RPGnow and Drivethru affected the market, for those companies and for the publishers involved. That competition had a very real influence on what both sites offered in order to gain publisher business (or focus thereof) and also affected publisher marketing strategies.All because you say so, right? It's a tad different if you've actually got money involved.I'm not saying there isn't some good that can come from this, but right now that is all the unproven speculation of expanding exposure and a growing market that cannot currently be factually tied to anything. It's all just smoke at the moment. On the other hand, the decrease in royalty returns is very real. The change to marketing presence is very real. The ramifications of lost competition are very real (and are not a matter of speculation, as any business student can tell you.) The changes to PDF publisher products are very real due to immediate reductions to our bottom line until (if ever) such a time as the exposure increase begins to pay off.Sorry, but things are nowhere even remotely as cut and dried, let alone smiles and giggles, as you seem to think they are.</blockquote>

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