Dan Gillmor on WinXP

A reader writes:There's a new column from Dan Gillmor on SiliconValley.com about Windows XP. The column calls for an injunction stopping the shipping of WinXP. Dan's got a well thought out list of reasons why and how it would work."

Comments

The Punishment Should be Made ASAP.

[dnaumov]

This has been said before and I'll say it again: Microsoft has been found guilty. They've been breaking the law and they are still breaking a law. This means that they should be punished.

I am not really sure whether this MS break-up would do any good, but I think I would rather see WinXP delayed by the US goverment and MS forced to alter WinXP. I'm all for WinXP, as long as it doesn't have Product Activation and Passport and as long as I can choose whether I want to install WMP 8, MSN Messenger, MSIE during the actual installation of the OS. Although it would be "OK" if I could actually remove all these components after the installation without breaking anything.

And don't start telling me that "Microsoft is a private company! Nobody has business telling MS how to make their products!" and all that BS. That statement would be correct if MS didn't break the law, which they did. At this point, the goverment HAS to do something to the way MS makes their products.

I just hope they just won't sit on their asses and will actually DO SOMETHING, before WinXP gets out of the door...It was scheduled to go RTM when ? On 27th of August ? Little time left...

Microsoft Always seems to find...

[cansecofan22]

a way to beat anything that is thrown at it. I dont know if we will be able to ever beat them by using the legal system. They have to many lawyers searching for ways to stall things so that by the time they do get into court, the item is already obsolete. Look at the whole Netscape IE thing. By the time the court ruled they were a monopoly Netscape had shrunk to about 15% market share. And now the appeal has gone there way (somewhat) and the next judgement will not be heard for years. The legal system is to slow. We will beat them by making a better product. They seem to find ways to shoot themselvs in the foot, look at all of the bugs in IIS. I think the legal system is a waste when it comes to microsoft. XP will ship on time, I would bet on it. But we will have a better desktop OS in about a year or two (would be sooner if KDE and GNOME could work things out) and we already have a better, more stable server OS.