Microsoft Appeals Anti-Trust to Supreme Court

wicket2001 writes "The AP is reporting that Microsoft has appealed their anti-trust case to the Supreme Court. Microsoft sent the petition to the high court two days before the case was to be sent to a new judge to decide what penalty the Redmond, Wash., firm should face."

Comments

Deja Vu

[abe ferlman]

Prediction: The court will provide a temporary injunction allowing XP to be put on the market until they make a decision. Then they won't make a decision until Bush is crowned President^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Windows XP is actually released into the wild and the issue becomes moot.

Sometimes politics is so depressing.

Bryguy

Might backfire

[Grokopen]

This kind of surprises me since it's been the DoJ's Antitrust Division that has consistently wanted to take this case to the Supreme Court (and bypass the hostile appeals court). This move might backfire for M$ because the Supreme Court's antitrust decisions during the Rhenquist years have not always been favorable to the defendant. In fact, there are actually some prominent pieces of Supreme Court antitrust case law that might play into the hand of the DoJ. Perhaps M$ will shoot themselves in the foot with this move.

And Meanwhile...

[tre]

network and system admins across the world try to deal with the Code Red I and II worms, while MS pushes us forth into .Net land. IIS 6.0 on a .Net server, hey why not? [sarcasm]

What I find so strange is, when someone commits a crime, they are held accountable for it and often spend a long period of time getting out from under the financial burden that it created. When MS stresses the envelope in the OS market, to the point where tax payers' money is used frivilously to prosecute them, it makes them millions on advertising and free PR revenue.

You can all breathe easier now

[Anonymous Coward]

Todays requisite anti microsoft non news story has been posted and we can all flame away and maintain our anger for another day.

Now wheres that guy who relates everything to a beowulf cluster ?

I never thought i would say it but i think i actually prefer reading trollaxtor posts to these bullshit stories - do most of you think MS even gives a fuck about all the spittle flecked ranting your go on with.

This is not news and its not stuff that matters (but i will give you the nerd part)

Re:Absolutely baffling

[Todd Knarr]

They're worried that they might be facing an injunction against shipping WinXP with everything they want buried in it, one forcing them to either not ship or make those things modular so they can be replaced by the consumer if they choose. They figure that by appealing to the Supremes now they can freeze the case's return to the District Court level and any possibility of an injunction until after they've shipped WinXP the way they want it, and that once the thing's in the field it'll be too late for the District Court to do anything about it. IOW, they want to stall until they can present the court with a fair accompli.

Something's up......

[Anonymous Coward]

I always wanted the Supreme Court to hear this case, so that once and for all the record can be set straight - that Microsoft holds a monopoly, and is (and has) been using that monopoly to squash competition and choice.

So now Microsoft wants to take the case to the Supreme Court. And there are some really REALLY smart people at Microsoft (they have been able to get away with all this stuff, haven't they??). They (Microsoft) knows something - whether they can have it overturned or simply as an elaborate delay tactic. Who knows.

Needless to say, I hope it backfires for them.

Re:It's all about timing

[elmegil]

I don't think you understand the legal process very well. Right now, M$ is just asking the Supreme Court to hear their case. That's called a petition for cert (which is short for some latin technical term I can't remember how to spell :-). The Court *does* typically make decisions on cert requests reasonably quickly, so unless they *agree* to hear the case at this point, it's unlikely to be a major delay. Given the situation, many of us agree that it's bloody unlikely for them to hear this case at this time. So it'll go one where the circuit court sent it.

It's worse than you think

[Vladinator]

And lets face the fact: If one of them DOES keel over, or retire (as Sandra Day O'Connor reportedly says she wants to) they are likely to be replaced by someone FAR FAR more scary. Think about this: Bush is like Rush Limbaugh - only FAR more stupid. Who do you think he's going to try and appoint to the court???

By the way - is anyone else seeing "Invalid form key GvORsfGrvV !" every damn time they try to submit something? Hey Rob! Fix the damn site please!

Re:Why this should come as no surprise

[Lumpish Scholar]

They know that if they can roll out XP and .NET before the district court can stop them it will be too late.

So it's completely predictable that they would have taken this step (and others) to try to delay the courts.

What I hadn't heard predicted, though, is that they also may ship XP next month! "Microsoft could send PC makers the final--or gold--code for Windows XP as early as Aug. 15 ... [and] would allow PC makers to sell systems with Windows XP installed in September."

Anything to beat the clock and dodge the bullet.

Man, you're kidding right?

[Vladinator]

Funny, the last time I looked, they don't advertise raw machines anymore. In fact, that is what I went there looking for not 3 months ago, and was presented with two choices: Win and Mac. I couldn't even find LINUX machines on their site anylonger. I suppose it's possible that I simply had an aneurysm and wasn't reading what I was looking at correctly, but it sure seemed that OS-less machines were not listed anylonger.

<Vlad goes and looks>

Yep! Here's what currently listed on the page for choices:
Systems
PC - Windows
PC - Apple
PC - Kits
Notebooks
Hand Held
Hand Held Accessories
Servers
Server Accessories

NOTE: You can get a Windows Machine, an Apple, or an unassembled incomplete kit. OS-less machines no longer an option.

Gee, I wonder if this had anything to do with the recient rash of MS threatening people who sell PC's without operating systems?