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Microsoft Case Enters Crucial Penalty Phase

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the nervous-goalies dept.

An Anonymous Coward points out an article from Joseph Menn's in the Los Angeles Times which begins: "Microsoft -- Nine states waging a landmark antitrust battle against Microsoft Corp. are preparing to venture into territory that has been barely visible during the past years of legal slogging: the future." This delves slightly into ways in which the states in legal conflict with Microsoft would like to see Microsoft constrained legally going forward.

8 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. More? by Daveman692 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If I remember correctly more than just the nine states are gonna go after Micro$oft. A lot of others didn't like the decision that it was over so they were pressing to. How will this effect it or am I just totally off my rocker and need a good slap from Cowboy Neal?

  2. About time by PhoenxHwk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Honestly, it's about high time that we're getting around to the penalty. It has always bothered me how much money the government needs to spend to enforce simple laws like the Sherman Antitrust act. *sigh* Perhaps we would have just been better off if the government had just subsidized the ridiculous price of Windows and Office.

    And it's not like this is the end either. MS will appeal every last thing they can think of.

  3. Would this really be so bad? by bmw · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has said it's unrealistic to think that Microsoft could come up with multiple Windows versions that work equally well.

    Who says they have to work equally well? Especially considering the wide variety of needs that people have. What works well for one person, doesn't necessarily work well for another. This would just give people a much needed choice in what is installed on their system. If everyone used a stripped down version of their OS that does only the things they absolutely need (and can be added to at a later time if so desired) then the internet as a whole would be much healthier.

  4. Re:Just let them kill themselves... by crudeboy · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I don't think you really can call IBM a minor player... They're still the worlds largest IT-company with revenue over $85 billion (2001) and over 300 000 employees.

    IBM is however a rather good example that a company can return in full force after a downturn, from being a hardware company they're much more into services now.
    And as for MS, you don't get to be number one only by breaking laws.

  5. OEM Contracts by eap · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As someone said in the OS/2 story, Microsoft gained its dominance through restrictive OEM licensing. Any penalty must forbid them from using this anticompetitive practice to be worthwhile.

    1. Re:OEM Contracts by SofaMan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      As someone said in the OS/2 story, Microsoft gained its dominance through restrictive OEM licensing. Any penalty must forbid them from using this anticompetitive practice to be worthwhile.

      Well quite, but technically, the original consent decree already forbade this.

      Bill Gates ackowledged at the time that this 'penalty' would mean precisely nothing, since the policy had already done its work from his point of view.

      The problem is not simply preventing M$ from continuing to do all of the shitty things it's done until now, but to put in place some punitive measures to compensate everyone else for the undeserved monopoly position they gained through cheating.

      --

      SofaMan -- Occasionally Battling Evil With His Mighty Powers Of Indolence.

  6. the only appropriate penalty... by jnana · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... is the corporate death penalty.

  7. Re:Never ending cycle by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Finally, MS can expand where ever it wants. They have no monopoly to leverage in Internet Services. Therefore, there can be no new violations.

    Get your facts straight. They have a monopoly in OS's, that they will use to wedge themselves into the internet services industry. This is CLEARLY illegal. And any company that goes under due to this, is a victim, by definition... they were harmed by a criminal act.

    I could also argue that M$ isn't likely to lose more than chump change to civil lawsuits. It would require a judgement in excess of $10 billion, to even faze them. That simply isn't going to happen.

    And as for the parent post... it was vulgar, but much more accurate than your own.