I don't think it will come to a lawsuit for a variety of reasons. Part of Microsoft's problem the first time around was that they compelled (or heavily induced) OEMs to "restrict choice". This, plus the relative newness of the Internet at that time (late 90s) meant that most consumers didn't have viable alternatives.
Today, everyone and his brother who purchases a machine through HP, Dell, Acer, Gateway, etc, is getting their choice of one or more bundled trialware AV products. Microsoft is primarily covering the bases on those whose subscription has run out and have not renewed, or those who have managed to fall through the cracks. And there are more than enough complaints that they *should* be providing said functionality right in the OS. A lawsuit of this nature will be much easier to defend, and consequently, less likely to happen by the ones who could be most effective at bringing it about. *ASB *(My XeeSM Profile) <http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker> *Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage...* * * On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 5:02 PM, Ben Scott <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 3:51 PM, Carl Houseman <[email protected]> > wrote: > > There's precedent for ever-increasing bundled / standard functionality in > an > > operating system without getting into the whole antitrust thing. Didn't > the > > terminal emulator folks make noise about Hyperterminal? > > Probably, but they had no money to fight a court battle. The big AV > companies have deep pockets, and the big guys and the small guys are > willing to work together against the really big guy (MSFT), so legal > action is more likely, methinks. I'm not saying it's a slam-dunk, > now, mind you -- just more likely to happen than a lawsuit from the > likes of Telix and ProComm. > > Remember, what the law says is only part of the equation. You also > have to be able to afford to pay lawyers (or get enough public > interest going for a government suit). > > -- Ben > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
