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Microsoft Antitrust Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson Dead at 76

Posted by timothy on from the different-kind-of-monopolistic-power dept.

McGruber writes "The NY Times has the news that federal judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who ruled in 2000 that Microsoft was a predatory monopoly and must be split in half, has died. He was 76 years old. 'A technological novice who wrote his opinions in longhand and used his computer mainly to e-mail jokes, Judge Jackson refuted Microsoft's assertion that it was impossible to remove the company's Internet Explorer Web browser from its operating system by doing it himself. When a Microsoft lawyer complained that too many excerpts from Bill Gates's videotaped deposition — liberally punctuated with the phrase "I don't remember" — were shown in the courtroom, Judge Jackson said, "I think the problem is with your witness, not the way his testimony is being presented."'"

4 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. He and Jobs now cracking M$ jokes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    The only question is, where are they now? One was a lawyer, and the other effectively enslaved tens of thousands of Chinese workers. I don't like their odds.

    1. Re:He and Jobs now cracking M$ jokes. by arth1 · · Score: 1, Troll

      I hate to tell you, but they only exist in the past. Afterlife is a fairy tale crutch for alive people to cope with death.

      Anyhow, I'm pretty sure that "TeePee" Jackson wouldn't have a lot of good things to say about Apple and Jobs either, with its lock-in between hardware and software, and for a while such a large market share on smartphones and tablets that anti-monopoly legislation might well come into play.

  2. Re:It was a very stupid idea by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1, Troll

    And in 2011 their fears were realized, as their decline accelerated.

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  3. A legitimate point flagged Flamebait? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    There is no more an Afterlife than there is a Priorlife. Afterlife is a fairy tale. That's a scientific fact, and a direct response to the prior comment submitter.

    The anti-Apple point is also completely valid based on the historical prescient of how Jackson responded when MS was doing less evil than modern day Apple. MS only forced you to have IE with your Windows, Apple forces you to to have vendor specific hardware with vendor specific software to utilize your vendor specific device. Apple is everything Microsoft was not allowed to be a decade ago.