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States Drop Planned Presentation of Modular Windows
sketchkid writes "CNBC just reported that the nine states have dropped their planned presentation of a version of Windows XP without certain "middleware". Apparently, Microsoft said the news of this presentation blindsided them and that they would need "an indefinite period of time to prepare its response", but the states don't want to prolong the case any more."
Perhaps the states know that whether or not they can show it can be done is more of a moot point. The point of the penalty phase is to enforce the penalty, and if the penalty is to modularize Windows then they have to pay that penalty despite the cost. Whether or not they've alredy done it with XP Embedded doesn't really matter as much.
Granted, I think showing off XP Embedded would have been a good thing (from what little I admittedly know about it) but perhaps they've got enough already. We all can acknowledge that speed is of the essence.
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
Please don't let me disturb your conspriracy theory, but perhaps Microsoft really did need some time to build a defense to the last-minute introduction of the XP Embedded demo.
For example, let's say the states introduced into evidence an XP Embedded build that included no browser components, just a TCP/IP stack. No HTML rendering engine, no Internet cache, no Internet HTTP/FTP protocol support, no URL parsing routines, no system JavaScript. All of these are part of the existing documented Windows OS APIs, but browsers like Netscape don't use them because they invent their own wheels for portability's sake. So you should be able to show this particular build of XP Embedded running Netscape and having no part of Windows Internet technologies installed.
If the states try this, I would expect Microsoft to show that a lot of third-party software will not work properly with so much of the Windows API ripped out. That would include Quicken and my own script-based software, just to mention a couple dear to my heart.
Anyway, my point is that Microsoft probably does need some time to respond, and the time will depend on what the states plan to present. The word indefinite can mean "unlimited" but can also mean "not clear". Perhaps the time they need isn't clear until they have a chance to see what the states are planning.
It's a hearing to determine the penalty for Microsoft now that they have been found guilty.
Actually, it isn't a penalty; it's a remedy. The judge isn't supposed to punish Microsoft for breaking anti-trust law; she's supposed to impose a remedy that will "undo" the damage that has been done.