Judge Tells Microsoft To Pay Up In Bristol Case

downset writes: "Back in the courts again, and Microsoft are on the receiving end of another guilty verdict. Using the old tactics that we are all used to by now, Microsoft have been found guilty of using 'bait and switch' tactics in promises to divulge Windows technologies to continue developing Windows to Unix conversions. The courts announced that Unix has Microsoft running scared ... anyone surprised?"

Comments

Running Scared?

[Slashdot Cruiser]

I'll tell what I'm running scared from -- I'm running scared from funky green paint and "1m 1337" personalized plates on the Slashdot Cruiser.

Good lord, that thing is fugly. I mean judge-judy-should-make-bill-drive-it-as-punishment fugly.

Re:WTF?!?

[aibrahim]

>a federal jury found that Microsoft had violated Connecticut's unfair-trade practices act, but awarded Bristol damages of just $1
>Thats right the jury awarded just one dollar. It was the judge that set the $1 million, at a later date (after appeal?).
>There something weird going on here, and I'm not sure I like it. What makes a jury award such a small amount of compensation that a Judge has to overule it later down the line.

This is a reminder of one problem in dealing with Microsoft: They have a GOOD image. People think about what they see of MS, and they see mostly good things. Most of the features in MS products were unknown to Joe average User before MS stuck it into windows. The average user doesn't care about uptime, and doesn't know all the things Linux can do that Windows can't.

So we have a jury of MS users who are not geeks and they say, "Yeah MS was bad, but they are getting a real bad rap...lets give them a break."

Re:Umm....what?

[fish500]

Maybe he means that M$ is running an application called Scared. It's a program that tracks all M$ lawsuits and outputs the appropriate appeals for the courts, spin for the media and other misinformation for the public.

$1 Million to Fund New IPO

[Col. Panic]

Bristol, based in Danbury, Conn., makes software that helps developers rewrite Windows programs for the rival Unix software. The company was left weakened by the dispute with Microsoft and was forced to cancel an initial public offering of its stock.

$1 Million ought to get the ball rolling again ...

Whee.

[Kid Zero]

$1 Million? That's IT?

Bill could probably find that in his couch.

I don't see where it will help Bristol at all, except in maybe an appeal or retrial.
-----------------------------
1,2,3,4 Moderation has to Go!

Umm....what?

[FascDot Killed My Pr]

"The courts announced that Unix has Microsoft running scared ... anyone surprised?"

Yes, I am. Why would the courts say such a thing? It has nothing to do with a legal ruling. Do you have a reference for this? (it's not in the ZDNet story you provided a link to)
--
Bid on me!

News?

[SUWAIN]

Isn't this a daily occurance? I think true news would be "Microsoft, in a remarkable change of pace, was not sued yesterday." :-)

...............
SUWAIN: Slashdot User Without An Interesting Name

Misleading conclusion from the article

[boing boing]

The courts announced that Unix has Microsoft running scared ... anyone surprised?

That is not what the article said. It said that Microsoft was trying to damage Unix competition while they were putting out an OS to compete.

And they used their standard operating practices to try and make that happen.

I have no clue where "running scared" came from.

Unix has windows running scared?

[photon317]

I don't think so. Windows is the pre-eminent operating system of the modern age. Unix is some 70's technology that lived beyond its usefullness. Unix still works on cromagnon ideas like functional process priorities, truly protected multitasking, scalability, and conformance to open standards and APIs for interoperability.

Microsoft saw through all of this crud, and has produced what the modern age really needs: An operating system expressly designed for computers with one user, who's running one application, which is only available from one vendor, and is capable of consistently crashing and losing data so as to provide the user a safe direction in which to ventilate his frustration with his miserable life.

Unix daemon for scare protocol.

[Anonymous Coward]

Unix has Microsoft running scared ... anyone surprised?

Nope, most Unix daemons are named by the protocol name followed by the letter "d" (e.g. ftpd, inetd, imapd, named etc.), under NT, the "services" (NT's equivalent of background-running daemons) are usually given freeform text strings as names. It is not surprising at all that Microsoft has adopted standard Unix naming convention for this "scare" protocol's service daemon.... they probably intend to do some more "embracing and extending". I would like to know what this "scare" protocol is all about, though.

8-) (big grin.... funny, eh?)

WTF?!?

[codemonkey_uk]

a federal jury found that Microsoft had violated Connecticut's unfair-trade practices act, but awarded Bristol damages of just $1

Thats right the jury awarded just one dollar. It was the judge that set the $1 million, at a later date (after appeal?).

There something weird going on here, and I'm not sure I like it. What makes a jury award such a small amount of compensation that a Judge has to overule it later down the line.

Thad