Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Antitrust Case Arguments Finished
Well, it's been going on for 11 months, but the DoJ and Microsoft's attorneys finally gave their closing arguments yesterday. Now Judge Jackson will put on his thinking cap and issue a preliminary ruling, hopefully within the next few weeks. The Washington Post has the full story.
Microsoft: "... We will concede that Mr. Gates is a deity of extraordinary power and has been very 'innovative' in the area of computers. But the economic loss would be immeasurable if we were to kill him. We recommend breaking up into four seperate units - four horsemen if you will, who will ride fourth bringing Office, NT, W2K, and The Road Ahead to everybody!"
--
Many have written in that, in a way, Microsoft is not guilty of the crime of anticompetitive behavior against netscape by integrating their own browser into the operating system. I repsectfully disagree, and argue that their punishment, in this case, did fit the crime, and that the government, though it punished Microsoft harshly for its actions, is justified.
"Huh?" you say. They haven't been broken up, at least yet. They may even win the case.
Well duh, people, look at all the news about Linux, and ask yourself how well Red Hat would have done if it weren't for the trial. Would there be Calderra and I-toasters for general sale at Best Buy now? Would there be the emphasis on alternatives? Would Dell have the guts to sell and support Linux on their systems?
Yes, Microsoft has payed dearly for its crimes against the public-loved Netscape. And it's punishment isn't over yet. The trial IS microsoft's punishment, and they are guilty, guilty, guilty as the trial goes on. Don't be fools, this was the point. Breaking up microsoft, as the company often says, would make them just another player in the market like Sun or IBM. But they are already on the road there! They have lost their way, propelled by our legal system that punishes the guilty and innocent alike. Think twice before predicting the outcome next time.
As most of us know already:
The crime was arrogance.
The judge, jury, and executioner is the justice system.
And the punishment is a trial that will wreck you.
Only God can save them now.
-Ben
> Without Microsoft, where would be we in the OS
> business today?
Uh, I think you may have a distorted sense of history.
I was working in software back in those early days of DOS. A few examples of operating systems that were available: Unix (System III and BSD 4.X), Xenix, Vax/VMS, Pick, TOPS20, maybe four or more different choices for the PDP 11 alone... Of course, for running on an eight bit system, you could go with CP/M, Turbodos, Apple DOS.
The only thing that all these various systems had in common is that they were vastly superior to MS-DOS, which itself was just a clumsy attempt to clone CP/M. And, yes, they all had command prompts. MS-DOS only got a foothold because the IBM PC was an expensive status symbol for managers. However, these expensive doorstops sitting on people's desks attracted the interest of developers. IBM PCs didn't really become useful until Lotus 123, and even then MS-DOS wasn't any contributing factor. Start with riding IBM's coattails, throw in a little strong arm tactics and the rest, as they say, is history.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
That's what I wonder... so the government wins. Microsoft has used unfair business practices and is a monopoly of sorts? What happens then. A telephone style break up where MS is broken up into a bunch of smaller division. The IE division the 9x division, the NT division?
As much as I am anti-microsoft... their dominance and accidental leadership seems to push the opensource commmunity to better things. Without the dominance of Windows, would a great Linux desktop environemnt like KDE or Gnome exist... I think not. The open-source community almost seems to need something to rally against...
/* CDM */