Kakki wrote:
> I'd say that Gates does need to be watched, although in many ways he has a
> lot of current law behind him, and I'm afraid that will help him keep the
> case strung out in court for a long time.
I really don't think this will go on for years. For those who have not been
following it, the appeals court tossed out the breakup of the company but upheld
the finding that Microsoft abused its monopoly in the market for PC operating
systems. The case is scheduled to go back before a new district court judge
before the summer ends to determine remedy and to determine whether MS has
illegally tied IE to Windows. There was a news report today in the Wall Street
Journal about DOJ and MS sitting for settlement talks, but MS is apparently
considering a Supreme Court review of the appeals court ruling and DOJ has
requested that the return to the lower court be expedited in order to get a
ruling before the release of Windows XP. Either way, it seems there's going to
be lots of action with this case right up to XP's scheduled release in October.
> The way our system is now, it may
> only leave the option of another strong competitor coming forth to knock him
> off his game a bit. It eventually happened with IBM.
The one place where this seems to be happening is with the net. AOL-TW is the
opponent and the recent breakdown in talks with MS to continue the long-standing
marketing deal of bundling AOL software with Windows really is all about media
players and instant messaging - both of which are critical to AOL-TW's strategy
to remain the #1 ISP and MS's .Net strategy.
Brenda
n.p.: Nuyorican Soul - "I Am the Black Gold of the Sun"
