Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Trial Wends Onward
Sinistar2k writes: "Showing remarkable restraint and an unwillingness to shout 'Give it up for me!', Steve Ballmer comes across as a poor, beat down soul in the video deposition (Windows Media or RealPlayer required) released today by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. Also available are text depositions of Ballmer and Allchin." gouldtj adds: "Here is a
timeline on the Microsoft trial. It is pretty complete, and it goes back to 1990. It is nice to see all of this in one place, I'd almost forgotten about the old stuff. It just reminds you how long this stuff can take." Finally, ackthpt writes: "The nine non-settling states have modified their requirements, rather than Microsoft having to sell various versions of Windows, they would have Microsoft Windows sold as a modular platform, where the user could opt for different vendors software for different uses.
Just days ago the nine settling states were rattled by Microsoft's end-around, challenging state attorneys' general participation in anti-trust procedings." And if your own computing (or career) depends on a Microsoft operating system, Roblimo suggests that you
stop using it, because Steve Ballmer says Microsoft may take it away.
Honestly, what has Microsoft done to deserve this. Sure, they have created a crappy OS, along with a bunch of crappy, bloated, buggy software. But, if its so crappy, why do people buy it? Its not like Microsoft has come into people's homes and forced them to buy software. Everyone has bought, or not bought, Microsoft stuff on their own free will.
Sure, they bundled IE with windows, but when I last bought Red Hat Linux, Mozilla came bundled with Linux. Is anyone prosecuting RedHat because of this? No.
The software market is realatively young. If those pesky politicians would just let the market be, then they would see that most of the problems would work themselves out, as they have done so in the past.
"Live on competition, destruction to monopolies. Innovation exists not in monopolies, but in competition."
-- And whoever "wins" the "competition" is a "monopoly"
Moron.
Amen.
And perhaps GM, Ford, Pepsico, Nabsico, Johnson & Johnson, Dow, and the other "Big Business" could do the world a favor, give us what we are begging for: freedom from corporate greed. If they would just go away, perhaps we could return to scraping the earth with our bare hands, doing honest work. We would not be destroying our environment, enslaving children in sweatshops, or corrupting the inhabitants of our planet with a religion of shallow consumerism. We could finally return to our caves, cowering in the dark, cold and starving.
Sorry, Slashdot would have to go too, but that's a small price to pay as long as we can punish the successful for being too good.