--Former Microsoft Vice President James Allchin in an internal memo
MANY states have already sued Microsoft only to be granted what we call 'funny money' settlement, which is just encouraging even more sales (possibly of the very same products that led to legal action in the first place).
Microsoft settles suit with Mississippi for $100 mln
[...]
Microsoft faced a rush of class-action suits on behalf of consumers in individual states after a U.S. federal judge found in 2000 that the world's largest software company abused its monopoly power by tying its Internet Explorer browser to its Windows operating system.
Those in Mississippi who purchased Microsoft products or computers containing Microsoft products between January 1, 1996, and Thursday will be eligible to receive a voucher of $12 or $5, depending on which products were purchased. The vouchers can be used toward the purchase of any software or hardware product.
Microsoft Announces It Will Ship Without IE in Europe - Reactions - Updated
[...]
My first reaction was, I guess that means you actually can remove the browser and Windows will still run, despite what Microsoft told the court in the US. My second was, if OEMs can choose to install IE, why wouldn't Microsoft just sit on them in various subtle ways to make sure it's in their best interests to always "choose" to install IE? And does this fix Vista? XP? I have some other reactions for you. Thomas Vinje of ECIS says this is "an acknowledgement of the validity of the EU Commission's case, but it is by no means enough.
--James Barksdale, Former Netscape CEO
European buyers of Windows 7 will have to download and install a web browser for themselves.
"They are trying to play a game," said von Tetzchner, "and I don't think anyone appreciates that fact they are trying to get away with a solution that doesn't solve anything.
"Microsoft is proposing a solution that is not going to solve the issue or provide consumers with choice," he added.
--Paul Maritz, former Microsoft Vice President, referring to Netscape
As Mike Shaver, Mozilla's vice president of engineering, articulated to me, most people download Firefox...using IE, which means leaving them browser-less (even without IE) is tantamount to cutting off their access to Firefox.
--Former Microsoft Vice President James Allchin in an internal memo
The European Unions however is absolutely not impressed by Microsoft's move. It is clear that what the EU wanted was to force Microsoft to include alternative browsers with Windows 7 rather than removing Internet Explorer, and with good reasons. The EU competition commission has certainly not forgotten the Windows N debacle, when they managed to force Microsoft to sell a version of Windows without a media player only to see all OEMs ship the versions with the media player included.
--Former Netscape Chairman James H. Clark
Comments
Yuhong Bao
2009-06-13 18:35:46
aeshna23
2009-06-13 19:51:31
Roy Schestowitz
2009-06-13 20:22:50
Yfrwlf
2009-06-14 07:05:23