On Mon, 9 Nov 1998, Jim Self wrote:
> Speaking of chess, I wonder if perhaps the Halloween memos were not
> "leaked" intentionally by Microsoft as a *gambit* in their legal defense
> against the Department of Justice.
Hi Jim,
I am not familiar with this sort of opening...preferring the Sicilian
to what appears to be the `Can of Worms' defence.
It would seem either very ingenious or very dimwitted. Given
the fact that Sun is claiming that Micro$oft has done *precisely* what
the memo's author proposes - the `extension' of protocols.
This faux pas has been picked up by the mainstream media (articles in
the Washington Post and NY Times, amongst others.) In one article,
some litigator mentioned examining the memos further - to see if any
additional violations of antitrust statutes have ocurred...I found this
information on the opensource page - there are some useful links.
> Open Source operating systems, such as Linux and BSD, represent the only
> credible *promise* of competition that can be raised against charges of
> monoply. Although they have a dedicated following among hackers and
> SysAdmins and ISP's they appear to have a long way to go before they become
> serious competition to Microsoft on the desktop.
The issue here is not the desktop. If you read the memos, they are concerned
with thin server market share...not the client side of the house. As far
as competing with M$ on desktops I'd be happy to debate this with you
over a pint (or two ;-) ...I believe this is the agenda of one Donnie Barnes.
> Consequently, it makes sense for Microsoft to exaggerate the threat of OSS
> to deal with the immediate threat in the courts. If Microsoft is
> dismembered by this legal action, as many people think it should be, it
> will be much less effective in overcoming OSS than if it remains intact.
It is possible that this gambit is rather clever and thus eludes me totally.
God knows I find the brilliance of win98/NT equally elusive!
Take care,
Tom
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