Microsoft Settles Minnesota Antitrust Suit

An anonymous reader writes "According to the Star Tribune: 'The Microsoft antitrust suit in Minnesota was settled out-of-court Monday seven weeks after it began, but before the plaintiffs even finished putting on their case before the jury. Terms of the settlement won't be disclosed until they are finalized and presented to a Hennepin County judge for preliminary approval 'in early summer,' Microsoft said in a statement. The antitrust suit in Hennepin Country District Court sought as much as half a billion dollars from Microsoft for alleged overcharges of more than 1 million Minnesota consumers and businesses who bought Microsoft Windows, Word or Excel software between 1994 and 2001.'"

Comments

Re:What is Minnesota doing...

[nberardi]

They said it was filed 7 weeks ago, that doesn't seem like a long time to pan out. This reminds me of the cigarett battle with "big" tobaco. Where states got a ton of money to combat tobaco use and give out to people for health care. Then the states turned around and used that money for everything but the intended use. It is going to happen here, because the population of MN isn't going to see a dime.

How is Windows overpriced?

[angle_slam]

You can get Windows XP for less than $100. Panther costs $129. How is Windows overpriced?

This case is just a money grab. Whether or not MS is a monopoly, they don't overcharge for their software.