Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Offers A Modified Settlement
inepom01 writes: "Just read a story here about Microsoft offering a different settlement proposal- this one would have two other companies join in on the foundation MS is establishing- Connectix and Key Curriculum Press. Since Connectix makes software that lets Windows programs work on Macs, seems like same old Microsoft tricks." gnovos points to another story at MSNBC on the shifting terms of this proposal.
What people seem to forget is that Microsoft has destroyed companies, hurt consumers, and generally played the all-around bad guy, and yet no only do they get to propose a "penalty" (I use that term lightly), but they get to propose a penalty that actually tightens their stranglehold!
Apple always did well in the school market, and now they have to stand aside as Microsoft "punishes" their way massively into that market.
"The market alone cannot provide sufficient constraints on corporation's penchant to cause harm." -- Joel Bakan
For all the ideas that get tossed about, why dont' we create a slashdot settlement? Everybody chips in and tells the DOJ in plain words what's wrong with the microsoft ideas, and then proposes a fair settlement(s), and discusses why it's a better idea.
Nobody is missing the point except the idiots who keep asking why Microsoft gets to pick its own punishment. It's not! This is a settlement. Must we define what a settlement is?
They went to court, they lost, they appealed and then they went to settlment talks. The government could refuse to settle and move on to trial. If Microsoft lost at that point and did not appeal or lost on appeal, they wouldn't get any say in their punishment. Well, they would get to plead their case for punishment A or B, but it's not as if they have to agree to their punishment.
Is it possible to have an intelligent discussion on anything related to Microsoft?
Why is it that posts that ask why Microsoft gets to "decides its own punishment", which is obviously false, get modded up, but others that explain the reality of the sitation don't?
Forget the whales - save the babies.
My wife's school has 25 new (as of 2 years ago) Dell computers with m$ installed on them.
.. nor do they have the funds to obtain it. And to top it all off .. they school system is *NOT* allowed to take volenteer help. [I already offered to set them up for them] They belong to the school union, and I dont.
.. how many think they would be anywhere CLOSE to guessing right ?
they have all kinds of scanners, and networking equipment.
This was all donated via M$ as part of their Digital Divite plan. [My Wife works in a low income targed school]
Do you know how effective these machines are in this environment ?
they are still in their original packaging. There is no one on the school staff that has the ability to set up a network , let alone install software and keep it running. There is no internet access to the school
Great donation. some 50k of machines and software (har har) at the time. Yet my wife's teaching budget of $900.00 isn't enough for her to get enough of even the most basic of art supplies for her 350+ students.
Since it was a donation, the school board is not allowed to sell it. And use the $$.
So these things do *NO* good to anyone [exept microsoft and i suppose dell] because of the tax breaks.
If microsoft REALLY wants to help education, they should turn part of their marketing machine on the prospect of paying teachers a salery WORTH what they deserve. If my wife got $1 for each child a day that she teaches [WAY cheap for a babysitter] she would double her salery now.
that means she gets less than five CENTS an hour to teach a child. [per child of course]
if the average american parent we're to guess how much their student's teachers were paid to care for them a day
donate computers to schools indeed. Why not just put the money into their research department, and *SAY* they are developing a plan to improve schools ? Same effect.
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
(I know this message will probably be marked troll, but here goes)
...seems like same old Microsoft tricks.
Would you guys just grow up? Did it ever occure to you that it is the responsibility of every employee, executive, and board member of a company to do everything in their power (including 'old tricks') to try and beat out the competition? If they don't, they are committing a crime against their own company (and against the principles of capitalism for that matter).
_______
2B1ASK1