Evidence Surfaces That MS Violated 2002 Judgement

whoever57 writes "In the Comes Vs. Microsoft case, the plaintiffs believe they have found evidence that Microsoft has failed to fully disclose APIs to competitors. If true, this would mean that Microsoft has violated the 2002 judgement. This information has become available since the plaintiffs have obtained an order allowing them to disclose Microsoft's alleged misbehavior to the DOJ ('appropriate enforcement and compliance authorities')."

Comments

If it weren't Microsoft...?

[suv4x4]

So, Microsoft is very evil. Ok. I've wondered though, if it weren't for Microsoft, would the world be a better place for IT?

We all agree one major platform is better than many wildly different platforms right? One processor architecture (x86) is better than four completely different, and one computer platform (PC) is better than many (even Apple understood that.. and effectively sells shiny PC-s loaded with OSX right now).

So one major OS is better. But Microsoft sucks, so which one.

I hope it won't be *nix if-I-can-do-it-so-can-my-grandma, or especially Linux its-only-kernel-but-pick-one-of-the-500-distros.

Given Apple's attitude to keeps things locked and proprietary (and dumbed down), I hope it won't be OSX either (can you imagine being FORCED to buy Apple hardware? No competition for OSX hardware? bad.. bad).

Maybe we'd all run on FreeDOS, or AmigaOS4.. I don't know...

Re:Hm.

[WindowsIsEvil]

It is obviously a Microsoft conspiracy to perpetuate their monopoly and keep Linux down.

Macthorpe, Apologist in Chief. M$ Right on Track.

[twitter]

It's not surprising to find a first post by Macthorpe denying M$ has hidden things needed by "competitors" to interoperate with M$ junk. Just the other day, he annoyed me enough to research his faithful but insulting defense of M$ in all things.

Still, it's amazing that anyone would defend M$ against the charge of thwarting interoperation, given the OOXML fiasco. The whole reason to buy a silly program like Office is so you can communicate and work with other people silly enough to use Office, they depend on the "networking effect," and monopoly position now as much as they did back in the 1980s. Just to prove the point, M$ has introduced a new 6,000 page "open" format specification which was quickly proven incomplete and unworkable, dependent on M$ owned, even patented and secret stuff, so that no one but M$ will be able to untangle it anytime soon. They even had the nerve to name it ooxml, to confuse users of the other oo, open office. The new Office, of course, saves to the new format with a hidden save as button and a file browser that hides the docx extension from the user, insuring that clueless users will soon be filling email inboxes with the obnoxious new format. From the start, people realized this was anti-competitive, yet here it is in all it's stinking glory. If that's not everything M$ ever was, I'm not sure what would be. Yet, here is Macthrope's big sneer:

So by my reading, they've been given the right to talk to the DoJ about something they have found that may or may not prove that they have broken the law? It'll be interesting to see how this pans out, but I'll be waiting for the next story along in this chain before I start jumping to conclusions.

A masterpiece of arrogance and misdirection. Let's review Grocklaw's take:

the latest Joint Status Report on Microsofts Compliance with the Final Judgments [PDF], which as usual documents the difficulty in getting Microsoft to write documentation, with Microsoft alleging that the new schedule, which dragged out the proceess, may need to be adjusted again if Microsoft finds it can't meet the new schedule either.

Five years after conviction, they have yet to live up to their obligations and

Plaintiffs in the current Iowa antitrust trial against Microsoft told the court yesterday that it is in possession of certain materials, obtained in part in discovery in that case, that they believe is evidence of Microsoft failing to disclose APIs

Notice that it's the US Government that has judged M$ as "slow" to meet their obligations and the State of Iowa that had to jump through hoops to get around M$'s ability to seal public records of their misdeeds.

The question is not, "are they breaking the law," it's how long they can continue to avoid the consequences and how much they will be forced to fork over. The biggest bust for them will be if Government simply addopts ODF. The "pawns and one night stands" are just the tip of the outrageous iceburg the Iowa case will reveal.