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Microsoft Faces Fresh Antitrust Complaints
Rob wrote to mention a Computer Business Online review piece about new anti-trust action against Microsoft on both sides of the Atlantic. From the article: "Other examples of anticompetitive behavior cited by Tangent include bundling of Outlook with Office and Active Directory with Windows Server, as well as the bundling of Windows Media Player and Windows Media Server with its desktop and server operating system respectively. Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment on Tangent's complaint, other than to acknowledge that it was being reviewed, but was more forthcoming in responding to a fresh complaint lodged with the European Commission by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS)."
What else is new...
Bundling Outlook with Office may be slightly closer to anti-competitive behavior, but I still think it's a BS complaint.
Seems like history repeating. Microsoft wasn't sued by 20 states' attornies general for nothing. Take a look at the findings of fact from the 1998 case. Though MS was found guilty of violating the Sherman and Clayton anti trust acts, not much really happened to them. Perhaps they were just too big and influential to punish.
Bill Gates likes to tout MS as innovative but it's really a company that bought or borrowed almost everything it ever produced. History will probably reflect on MS as a popular and ubiquitous OS. But the real innovators will be those who developed the PC, PDA, Digital Camera, Ipod, etc., not Microsoft.