> "David Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > More likely, Microsoft was afraid that a portable browser could > > become the > > platform of the future, making the operating system no longer > > particularly > > important. > No. At the time (1995), Microsoft had no clue about what the Internet > was and how important it would become. That was the year they launched > their own dialup service modeled after AOL, and the year _The Road > Ahead_, in which Bill Gates's ghost writer predicted that MSN would > become the dominant computer network, was released (read the original, > not the later revised edition which papered over the worst blunders). > Microsoft expected to end up in control of client, network and content. > It wasn't until 1996 that they did an about-face and bet, if not the > farm, then at least a barn or two on the Internet.
So you're saying that long before Microsoft saw any importance to the Internet, they felt that it was important to give away IE so they could extort money from companies like Verisign to get their keys included? If you don't see the Internet and ecommerce as important, why would you think anyone would pay millions of dollars to get their key in? In any event, your argument is contradicted by the historical record, from US v. Microsoft: ""Certain statements of Microsoft executives proffered by plaintiffs indicate that the company recognized the impending danger. For example, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates stated that the Netscape/Java combination threatens to "commoditize" the operating system. See B. Gates 5/26/95 e-mail (PI Ex. 2). Following a 1997 meeting with Mr. Gates, Microsoft's Ben Slivka described Java as "the biggest threat to Microsoft" and wrote to Mr. Gates that "clearly the work the Java team is doing has hit a raw nerve with you." SJ Opp'n Ex. 60. And in an essay posted on Microsoft's Web site, Mr. Gates recognized the potential of Netscape's browser to "become a de facto platform for software development, ultimately replacing Windows as the mainstream set of software standards." States' PI Ex. 3. Other Microsoft executives recognized browsers as "alternative platform[s] to Windows," B. Silverberg Internet Platforms & Tools Div. Mtg. Agenda (emphasis in original) (PI Ex. 33), that might eventually "obsolete" Windows. B. Chase 4/4/97 e-mail (PI Ex. 15). One Vice President warned that "[t]he situation is threatening our operating systems and desktop applications share at a fundamental level," and declared: "Netscape pollution must be eradicated." J. Raikes 8/13/96 memo (PI Ex. 34)."" DS _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-chat To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
