Judge Examines Microsoft Settlement Progress

Infonaut writes "The judge who presided over the settlement between Microsoft and the federal government may be starting to realize what a lot of people already know about Microsoft. The settlement was predicated on the belief that competitors would be able to license technology from Microsoft in order to get some relief from Microsoft's desktop OS monopoly. As Kollar-Kelly admitted, 'I think all of us had hoped for more agreements.' Now the judge is asking federal prosecutors to examine specifically why more licensing agreements have not been reached. I'm truly shocked that the settlement isn't turning out as planned, after the Justice Department so shrewdly rolled over when they had Microsoft over a barrel."

Comments

Abolish copyright, and this isn't problem.

[Thinkit3]

Without copyright, Microsoft would not be the monopoly that it is. They depend on copyright for nearly everything they do.

Something to consider:

[Sheetrock]

If Microsoft is effectively reined in, would this be a net benefit to the computer industry?

Who would fill the void? Their leading competitors have higher priorities than consumer satisfaction and industry cooperation, I'll bet.

Does mixing up standards again seem like a good idea? Plug and play ain't the prettiest but it's a damn sight better than trying to get things to work in the 80s used to be.

Justice doesn't always equal punishment. In business, sometimes it really is about letting the ends justify the means. I'd prefer Microsoft take a more relaxed stance towards Open Source and the like, sure, but I think the people in this process are showing great wisdom in not immediately jumping down Microsoft's throat. Stifling innovation is the quickest way to kill this industry.

Re:pardon list?

[oDDmON oUT]

Criminal violations include theft, fraud, assault, contempt of court, etc. If a company committed one of those violations, the CEO would be held personally responsible for it.

There are those who would contend M$'s assertions that windoze is a stable, secure, operating system constitute fraud.

As for theft, how about the large amounts of lost time spent patching, blue screening, recovering from patching, blue screening...?

I think we need to try and interest Jack Thompson in a class action suit.

Re:An opinion from back in the Zd-Net days...

[mvdwege]

Minor note of interest: The grandparent poster spectecjr is one Simon Cooke, a former Microsoft employee, and full-time Microsoft defender on all sorts of online media.

Oh, and him calling someone else a kook is too laughable to describe, as he has a rather kooky history too. Check out the Google USENET archives for some fun.

Mart

Rolling Over

[smack.addict]

The government rolled over when George Bush became President. Can anyone think of one positive accomplishment of this President? I can't.

Re:Rolling Over

[mabu]

The government rolled over when George Bush became President. Can anyone think of one positive accomplishment of this President?

Don't hate the playa, hate the game. Our illustrious administration has many accomplishments that they undoubtedly think are positive:

* Attacked and took over two countries.
* Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
* Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
* Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
* Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
* First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
* First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
* First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.
* After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.
* Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.
* In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
*Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.
* Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.
* Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
* Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
* Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history.
* Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
* Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
* Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
* Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
* Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
* My presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.
* Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (the 'poorest' multi-millionaire, Condoleeza Rice has an Exxon oil tanker named after her).
* First president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.
* Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
* First president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.
* Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
* Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.
* First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.
* First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.
* Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
* Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
* Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
* Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
* First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections).
* All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
* My biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
* Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
* First president in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation

Had to be done, sorry...

[fishexe]

This all comes down to one thing. What is Microsofts business plan?

1. Control some software markets
2. ...
3. Profit!

Re:Get OVER IT

[fishexe]

Everybody respects a tough competitor nobody respects whiners.

Everybody respects someone with a grasp of grammar nobody respects fools.

Re:Blank pages in Firebird 0.7

[HiThere]

Could you please say "Mozilla Firebird" or Moz-Firebird or some such. I kept thinking you were talking about the Firebird DBMS, and that your comments were addressed to Taco until I was passed by two posts.