Billwatch Snippets Database – Part II
Snippet: | Apparently, the DOJ is not on holiday just yet. They wish to re-interview Microsoft executive Jim Allchin over his sworn testimony given in September 1998. In it, he claims that he can make no representation as to whether Edward Felten’s program really does remove Internet Explorer 4 from Windows 98 because the testing was incomplete. However, his testimony is dated after the date given with Microsoft’s test results. Story is here: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,30272,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh Predictably, |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1998-12-24 02:24:52 |
Snippet: | The South-Carolina Republican party received $20,000 – one of their largest contributions – from Microsoft, a company located at the other side of the country. Sometime Unfortunately An article on the matter: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ap/technology/story.html?s=v/ap/19981224/tc/_microsoft_lobbying_1.html You can track individual campaign contributions at: http://www.crp.org/indivs/name.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1998-12-29 03:49:49 |
Snippet: | A Red Herring magazine article entitled “Standing Up to Microsoft” has an interesting interview with Harvard Business School professor . This is one of the authors of the book “Competing on Internet Time: Lessons from Netscape and Its Battle with Microsoft” who went to court to protect their confidential sources at Netscape from being used for Microsoft’s anti-trust defence. |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1998-12-30 01:36:01 |
Snippet: | as “Vaporware of the Year”.
See: http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/16974.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1998-12-30 12:08:01 |
Snippet: | I can’t make much of this news item at http://www.theregister.co.uk/ but consider it weird enough to be of interest.
Here’s how Gates is alleged to use actors to polish his public image: http://www.theregister.co.uk/981230-000004.html Update: The above article was written on the basis of an article in The Guardian. You can find a transcript here: http://lists.essential.org/am-info/msg07493.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1998-12-30 14:24:01 |
Snippet: | Ridiculing their own criteria for factuality, Microsoft claims in their response to William Harris’ testimony that the only “fact” in 50 pages is that “Intuit wishes to use its testimony as an attempt to circumvent competition in the marketplace by using the government and the courts against Microsoft”. No doubt this “wish” is not made explicit, so by their own admission, Microsoft must have concluded the factuality of the wish from 50 pages that contain no facts. Remember that these are the criteria by Of Those who have been around for As is customary in Microsoft’s responses you will also As with “factuality”, Microsoft’s criteria of “It’s clear from this You can find the response at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/dec98/12-29harris.htm Update: William Harris’ testimony is now available at: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f2000/2055.pdf |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1998-12-30 21:00:24 |
Snippet: | Isn’t (Norwegian) Opera the victim of dumping of both Microsoft and Netscape? And what has trans-Atlantic politics got to do with it? |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1998-12-31 00:21:36 |
Snippet: | Once in a while, less often than I wish, I take up a book with culture criticism. This month I read Neil Postman’s “Technopoly”.
I won’t treat you to a review, but restrict myself to a few citations. Mr. Postman writes on “knowledge monopolies”: “Those This aptly describes Microsoft’s control over Mr. Postman emphasises the power of technology Two more quotes: “As for change brought on by I am not against technology per |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1998-12-31 20:25:27 |
Snippet: | Both Bristol’s request for a preliminary injunction, and Microsoft’s request to throw out the case altogether were rejected in the 30 December 1998 ruling of federal judge Janet C. Hall. Microsoft’s press release emphasizes the Of course, ignoring this element of the case makes it simpler for Microsoft to refer to their press release as: “Microsoft Wins Preliminary Decision in Bristol Lawsuit”. Microsoft’s and “Microsoft looks forward to presenting a powerful case in defending itself against Bristol’s baseless allegations.” Given We find thus that we can not trust Aside from ignoring part of the “Throughout this case, it has “Bristol Note You can find Bristol’s press release here: http://www.bristol.com/legal/12-31-98pr_release.htm You can find Microsoft’s press release here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1998/dec98/bristolfinpr.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-04 15:12:05 |
Snippet: | During the last couple of days I have been thinking about making Billwatch more effective. Given that I work some 55 hours a week, I have limited time left for the site so I have to make choices. The previous item on the ruling and the press Expect my postings on billwatch to become less frequent but not less fierce. But then, here’s a link to a Mary Jo Foley article at ZDNet about which I have little to say, but which may interest you: Of course, Roy has his own agenda wrt his postings here. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-05 01:34:44 |
Snippet: | You can find Franklin M. Fisher’s 111 page testimony at: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f2000/2057.htm Microsoft’s response is at: This reply is introduced as: From the contents I’d I will comment on the testimony and the reply as soon as I have read those voluminous pieces. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-05 19:43:38 |
Snippet: | All in all, Billwatch has been down for some six days during the last two weeks. I do not know what causes the problem, but if the advice of my local UNIX guru is correct, the machine on which the site resides should now at least reboot when it has a problem, instead of merely hanging until I get access to the cellar. I apologise to all readers for this inconvenience. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-05 20:28:51 |
Snippet: | After a call by the Chairman personally, guaranteeing not having to speak the party line, director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Laboratory for Computer Science, agreed to appear in court as a technical expert giving testimony for Microsoft. However, two weeks after his deposit, |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-06 01:17:16 |
Snippet: | In this story at
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,30560,00.html Intuit |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-01-06 07:40:08 |
Snippet: | Sorry folks, but the machine on which Billwatch runs seems to be beset with problems. I had hoped to have a solution, but as such things go, I should have waited to see it work before postings that things were probably solved. It now seems Keep the faith. -cjr |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-06 16:03:52 |
Snippet: | It is about time for my yearly hardware update so I looked around for bargains. My eyes fell on a computer with the following specifications: AMD K6-II cpu 333 Mhz, 2.5 Gb ultra-ATA HDD 5.4 rpm, 32 MB SRAM, S3 ViRGE 4 MB PCI, Intel 430 TX chipset, Miditower ATX chassis, MS Windows 98, and a 14” monitor. The |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-07 02:47:13 |
Snippet: | After most of the media and one general attorney uncritically accepted Microsoft’s claims on the relevance of the AOL/Netscape merger for the trial, it is refreshing see a sign of critical thinking. This article “explains” Judge Jackson’s See: http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-01/06/029l-010699-idx.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-07 13:32:17 |
Snippet: | You can find the latest transcript fragment of the Chairman’s testimony at: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f2000/gates7.pdf
Even You can get a sample of Mr. Gates’ testimony at The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/990107-000008.html PS. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-07 23:41:05 |
Snippet: | MIT economist Franklin Fisher is winding up his testimony, with closed-door testimony with confidential OEM pricing to be given on Monday. Story is here: http://chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,SAV-9901080309,00.html I |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-01-08 16:21:13 |
Snippet: | To evaluate the value of their poll, it isn’t relevant that the CSEF appears to be a Microsoft partner, given the links to MSIE and MS Frontpage on their home page. Also, it What does matter is what they tell us about the preferences of those that are polled. I won’t comment on CSEF’s press release extensively, but here are some things to watch out for.
By replacing the actual poll You can find the press release about the poll here: http://www.cse.org/cse/nr-telecom990107csef.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-08 20:53:30 |
Snippet: | The following article:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2184567,00.html dexcribes But, even more than the |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-01-08 21:08:53 |
Snippet: | Mostly based on Joachim’s Kempin’s famous memo to Bill Gates – trial deposit 365: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/exhibits/365.pdf - several consumers organizations wrote a report on Microsoft’s pricing and relate this to its monopoly position. The report, “THE CONSUMER COST OF THE MICROSOFT MONOPOLY: $10 BILLION OF OVERCHARGES AND COUNTING”, is pretty much a heavily annotated version of Joachim Kempin’s memo to the Chairman. Kempin is Microsoft’s senior vice-president of OEM sales, which makes him the highest authority on this subject. The organizations are: Consumer Federation of |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-09 02:53:11 |
Snippet: | Nowadays Microsoft spokespersons are eager to tell the public that the “economics of network effects” is at best misguided. Another popular item with them is that market dominance is transient as a result of fast moving technology. Things were The difference between IBM The Chairman Here are some quotes from “The Road Ahead” with my annotation: http://main.billwatch.net/annotated/compatibility_or_technology.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-09 22:45:06 |
Snippet: | Perhaps Microsoft employees can tell their superiors of irregularities, but doing so by a means that is traceable by the government is not appreciated. This is what chief of internal audits Charlie Pancerzewski did by e-mailing to his superiors CFO Mike Brown and chief operating officer Bob Herbold. Mike Well, Pancerzewski got thrown out Microsoft See: http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/romano0107/index.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-10 12:21:31 |
Snippet: | Dan Gillmor wrote a column that pretty much reflects how I see Microsoft today. What matters is not so much Gillmor’s prediction about the outcome of the case, but rather his frank evaluation of the “Microsoft culture”. “[T]he See: http://www1.sjmercury.com/columnists/gillmor/docs/dg011099.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-11 10:21:48 |
Snippet: | At the end of each week Microsoft briefs their pick of Wall Street analysts. Just the folks they like and no press.
Of Are Of course, the press is not allowed to be present either. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-11 20:38:08 |
Snippet: | It seems that Mr. Fisher is doing better when writing about economical phenomena than when being asked about esotoric software technology or about specific numerical data. Of course, Microsoft’s emphasis on the latter doesn’t make the former less relevant and the latter more so. Anyway, you can get an impression of the court session from Graham Lea’s article here:http://www.theregister.co.uk/990111-000015.html (Generally, http://www.theregister.co.uk/ gives frequent and regularly good counterweight to the major media.) |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-12 01:26:24 |
Snippet: | The one thing that Microsoft doesn’t talk about when trying to show that its operating system prices are “fair and competitive” is the prices of competing products. Given Take See: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/jan99/01-11pricing.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-12 10:36:17 |
Snippet: | From the quality and extensive character of the testimony it is clear that the testimony is a well-funded team-effort. That is a good things, as it is more rewarding to find fault in the best possible defense of one position, than in a couple of loose slogans. Given that the testimony happily offers It is interesting to see how Mr. Schmalensee comes up Actually, the software market is Anyway. Saying that: “Eminent economist Professor Richard Testimony: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/schmal/schmal.htm Microsoft’s introduction: |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-12 10:55:29 |
Snippet: | Once in while I refer to the Microsoft special of the Law Journal Extra. I may not always agree with the articles, but at least they are produced by the application of the mind instead of copy-and-paste. I really should look there more often, it’s worth the effort. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-12 12:29:24 |
Snippet: | An outline of what Microsoft’s defence is likely to be is here:
http://chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/ws/item/0,1267,8297-8298-21466,00.html The For anyone tempted to agree with Competition would be hard even without Microsoft’s |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-01-13 04:06:29 |
Snippet: | The following press release indicates that not only the US DOJ was overly happy with the Consent Decree. The EC was just as please with the settlement. Well, since my first two machines, with respectively DOS 3.3 and DR-DOS 6 pre-installed, I’ve always been able to circumvent the tax and install Linux on a virgin computer. Has Microsoft lived by the agreement? Anyway, one need For the press release, see a message by CPT’s James Love to the on-living “appraising-Microsoft” mailinglist: |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-13 21:55:22 |
Snippet: | In a follow-up on his earlier message on the 1994 EC agreement with Microsoft, James Love points out that:
“A See: http://lists.essential.org/am-info/msg00285.html Being |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-14 14:00:48 |
Snippet: | Microsoft’s first witness started out by testifying contrary to his earlier “expert” testimony in the Bristol case. A nasty result of Microsoft’s overwhelming vertical and horizontal presence in the software industry is that they pretty simply become a competitor. Whereas Mr. Schmalensee was earlier Just as Mr. Schmalensee attempts to See: http://www.mercurycenter.com/business/microsoft/trial/breaking/docs/mstrial011399.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-14 20:20:39 |
Snippet: | I don’t know if I quote John Maynard Keynes correctly, but Mr. Schmalensee reminds me of the quote.
Mr. For Mr. Schmalensee’s theory is that a Another theory of Mr. Schmalensee is The Incidentally, My respect for MIT has just received a serieus dent. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-15 00:16:41 |
Snippet: | After finishing its part of the testimony, the DOJ has published some 500 additional documents. Among these the complete testimony of the Chairman. Reading Gates’ You can look for some more skeleton’s in Gates’ testimony at: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/ms_gates2.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-15 00:28:14 |
Snippet: | The protagonist of Dostoievski’s “Crime and Punishment” believes that special persons need not adhere to the law, nay, they *should* not adhere to the law. Similarly, Well, they have appealed the injunction requiring it to modify Windows and Internet Explorer to adhere to the java standard. You can find their press release here: The motion for appeal is here: (The folks in Redmond seem to confuse the different cases, as they put it in the “doj” directory.) |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-15 00:40:14 |
Snippet: | Just as Microsoft makes using Internet Explorer and therewith Microsoft’s polluted version of java a pre-condition for using its monopoly Windows product, it forces developers to make a similar move. For developers on the Windows See: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2187669,00.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-15 10:39:48 |
Snippet: | Microsoft has been and will be claiming in court that their internal emails of employees – up to the highest level – give no insight in the actual motives for the actions of the company. Remember how they originally tried to get rid of the Today Consistency is a rare virtue, at least in Redmond. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-15 10:50:05 |
Snippet: | Graham Lea exposed some of Microsoft’s pricing practices.
Why Why would the price of the older |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-15 11:00:55 |
Snippet: | Some time ago, I hypothesized about the ways in which the results of a poll can be influenced by specific phrasing of questions and introductory texts. Gates commissioned “A memo from a Microsoft researcher at the If Microsoft has been guilty of such an act. Aside Incidentally, Microsoft regularly employs the firm Hart and Teeter to conduct their polls. Beware when that name is mentioned! For the article by John Lettice in The Register: |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-16 11:43:48 |
Snippet: | Both at home and at work my systems are Microsoft free. However, while I could have obtained the machine without any operating system at all, I chose to buy my desktop machine with an OEM version of Windows NT 4.0 Workstation. This weekend It seemed like a During I chose to use If my new Incidentally, |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-19 00:41:45 |
Snippet: | In my previous postings I described restrictions in Microsoft’s licensing for an OEM version of Windows. I actually used the OS to play around a bit (but got bored quickly kept to Linux from then on). Therefore I have no right to the refund mentioned in the EULA: “If you do not agree to the terms of this People This can be quite a hassle, but it makes a good story: |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-19 01:30:18 |
Snippet: | I was fairly amused to read this article:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2188593,00.html where All of * – Microsoft is not prevented from distributing this drivel, for the reader can easily download it directly from http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial . |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-01-19 21:55:27 |
Snippet: | For $6.7 billion, about one-and-a-half times the price AOL is to pay for Netscape (or rather, its portal, as AOL is getting rid of its software as fast as possible), cable company @Home, a Microsoft partner, bought portal Excite! In the context For Microsoft’s comments on AOL’s For an article on the transaction, see: http://cnnfn.com/hotstories/deals/9901/19/excite_a/ I find it interesting that CNN doesn’t mention the consternation surrounding Netscape in its prsent newscasting. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-20 05:05:55 |
Snippet: | As mentioned earlier, Microsoft’s “End User License Agreement” includes a statement that those who do not agree with it and decide not to use the software before using it, are entitled to a refund from the OEM that bundled Windows with the hardware. Those running Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2, Netware or perhaps Second best is To help people organize in their efforts to obtain what You can find the Windows Refund Center here: http://www.thenoodle.com/refund/ |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-20 12:44:19 |
Snippet: | I consider it quite funny that Dell moved to keep Microsoft’s agreements with OEMs secret. There is no open market for computer operating systems as Microsoft is the only vendor seriously considered. It is a public secret that Microsoft uses price discrimination to obtain some degree of control over OEMs marketing and hardware decisions. Apparently, Dell managed to get a bargain and intends to keep its competitors from learning about it. The trial sessions on OEM agreements has been secret, but from the remaining testimony some things can be gleaned. Check out Graham Lea’s article “What is it Microsoft wants the court to keep secret?”: http://www.theregister.co.uk/990118-000003.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-21 01:52:31 |
Snippet: | One of the arguments, perhaps from OEMs, perhaps from Microsoft itself, for *having to pre-install* Windows is to fight piracy. The idea is that people who don’t pay for Windows will steal it and hence all buyers of computer hardware must pay for Windows also. There is nothing new about the problem of For Microsoft there is a dire implication Aside from that there is of course an Claiming that this is a necessity contradicts Microsoft’s claims that they operate in a competitive market. My |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-21 10:51:49 |
Snippet: | Starting with Richard Schmalensee’s “testimony” Microsoft has discovered the word “paradigm shift”. To be very brief, the concept means in Kuhn’s philosophy of science that one conceptual framework is completely replaced by another – no stone is left unturned, so to say. This greatly appeals to Microsoft: if The Once I can’t help wondering what happened to Mr. Nielsen, Microsoft manager for Given |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-22 01:40:39 |
Snippet: | In this story, read about Microsoft’s reaction to the Windows refund campaign:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2191274,00.html Note Also, spokesman Sohn says that Microsoft |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-01-22 17:41:48 |
Snippet: | After initially claiming that Linux was essentially by a single person – a mere student – to show how simple entrance in the OS market was (read John Warden’s early interrogations, Microsoft’s “Setting the record straight paper that introduced their position in the trial, and Microsoft’s general manager in France who claimed that development of Linux has just about stopped since the student-originator moved to the US to work on a real job), the latest claim from Redmond – by way of the testimony of senior vice president Paul Maritz – is that more developers are working on Linux than on Windows NT. Another funny aspect of Mr. Maritz testimony is his Perhaps Mr. Maritz should learn Paul Maritz’s testimony is quite, er, bloated, and I restricted myself to the testimony here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/jan99/01-22maritz.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-23 01:52:43 |
Snippet: | Graham Lea wrote a very readworthy article on Richard Schmalensee’s testimony. You can find it here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/990122-000024.html
After Update: Here’s another one: Schmalensee trips on DoJ banana skins. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-23 01:57:59 |
Snippet: | Readers will no doubt know about Microsoft’s original licensing of “Internet Explorer” from Spyglass. By giving the browser away, Microsoft evaded having to pay royalties to Spyglass and thus made the company change its line of business as the other licensees (some 182 from the top of my head) stopped licensing the product in a market where Microsoft was dumping. (A Robin Hood variation: the big one takes from the small one and gives to everybody.) Naturally, I can’t help wondering if Microsoft Did Microsoft tell However, If Microsoft did not represent the case like this to Spyglass, it has committed fraud. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-23 02:49:38 |
Snippet: | Senior vice president Paul Maritz is Microsoft’s group manager of software and platforms. He is the highest ranking Microsoft executive climbing on the witness stand. I annotated some fragments from his lengthy testimony. You can find the result here. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-24 17:35:05 |
Snippet: | Microsoft has long used its position to force exclusive contracts upon OEMs and later ISPs in order to raise barriers to competition. The emerging networking markets, The solution is to apply the traditional way of denying entrance to the competition: you buy up the channels. Today Conclusion: don’t expect a level market for the Internet appliances that Microsoft is so loudly afraid of when in court. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-25 20:28:39 |
Snippet: | At a time when it is alleged in court that AOL might at some undefined time in the future start distribution and should henceforth be considered a formidable opponent of Microsoft, AOL itself is about to start a massive distribution by *snailmail* of its own version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Earlier, |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-25 22:15:32 |
Snippet: | Whereas a normal procedure for a cable company would be to support whatever software its clients have, UPC, Europe’s largest privately held cable television and television company, has decided it needed a particular software partner. Guess http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,31429,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-26 18:33:37 |
Snippet: |
In this John Dodge column: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2192748,00.html read This |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-01-26 21:27:44 |
Snippet: | Procompetition did some research on Mr. Maritz’ relevant utterances in the past that seem to contradict what he tells the court in his testimony. See: http://www.procompetition.org/xp/p-headlines/i-current/a-917374293/p_article.view |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-26 23:25:44 |
Snippet: | You can find some numbers on Microsoft in the following ProComp article: http://www.procompetition.org/xp/p-headlines/i-current/a-917374894/p_article.view
An Gates personal wealth suffices to buy AOL/Netscape, Sun and more than half of Oracle. So much for the “formidable competition”. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-26 23:32:58 |
Snippet: | With its market value recently climbing above $400B, Microsoft is now worth 100 times more than Netscape. Such numbers put Microsoft’s claim of Netscape being a “formidable competitor” in some perspective. See: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,31494,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-27 08:45:49 |
Snippet: | Microsoft has played a video in court on which Vinod Valloppil, the author of the infamous Halloween memos, presents the ease of use of the “Caldera operating system”. What Mr. Valloppil fails to mention (and the DoJ most surely didn’t notice) is that we are looking at a branded version of Linux with the KDE desktop. Apparently, the folks at Microsoft feel that something can have the “integrated feel” even if both parts are separately available and functional. Could it be that the advantages of integration can be accomplished without having one component fail whenever another component of the same vendor is not present?The text of the video is included in the trial transcript. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-27 09:55:53 |
Snippet: | In yesterday’s anti-trust trial proceedings, Microsoft executive Maritz admitted under questioning by Judge Jackson that Microsoft’s goal in welding Internet Explorer to Windows was to increase its browser market share. As late as July 1997, consideration was given to selling an “Internet Explorer upgrade” to Windows ’98. The arguments that integration of Web browsing functionality into Windows ’98 was technologically motivated and “for the good of the consumer” are looking shakier by the day. Full story is at: http://chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,SAV-9901270364,00.html |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-01-27 17:40:31 |
Snippet: | Microsoft’s next witness on the stand is Jim Allchin, you know, the one from “leveraging the operating system” to get browser market share. You can find it at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/mswitness/allchin/allchin.htm First comments are available now by the vitriolic hand of John Lettice (pity that the HTML italics didn’t match): |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-27 23:43:59 |
Snippet: | The “International Alliance for Compatible Technology” (http://pages.cthome.net/iact/) released an “action letter” concerning Compaq’s limitation of Altavista’s Discovery section to Microsoft software.
It I know nothing about IACT, but this makes good sense to me. You can find the letter at: http://pages.cthome.net/iact/iact-3.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-28 00:18:37 |
Snippet: | As mentioned a few days ago, Microsoft has taken a $500 million interest in British cable company NTL. What wasn’t mentioned then is that NTL had announced a week before that it would launch NTL TV-Internet, its new interactive television service, using NCI’s (Network Computer) software. Given Microsoft’s history of exclusive contracts, be they with OEM’s, with educational institutions, with Apple, and with just anybody that ever enters into a business agreement with them, we can safely presume that NTL has now dropped from the software market as a potential buyer. In this context one is also urged to remember that WebTV was an early adopter of java, but they shedded support for the language after having been bought by Microsoft. Another cable company mentioned a few days ago was It looks like Microsoft is closing the markets for software as AT&T closed the market for telephones. See: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,31580,00.html?st.ne.lh..ni |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-28 19:59:16 |
Snippet: | Australian biologist Shane Brooks found a solution to give consumers options that Microsoft denies them:
“98lite If you’re in the mood, check out the Sm@rt Reseller article about it, that concludes: “Windows (http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2196350,00.html) |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-29 01:14:29 |
Snippet: | “[O]n 13 February 1998, Imatec filed a suit against Apple alleging the company had infringed three patents it holds for device-independent colour management software. Imatec claimed Apple’s ColorSync software contained its technology. Imatec is seeking $1.1 billion in damages.” See: http://www.theregister.co.uk/990128-000012.html I If I am not mistaken, Apple is “UNLESS WE COULD SOLVE THIS BASIC ISSUE, WHICH WAS Strange, isn’t it? (News agencies don’t seem to have caught |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-29 01:53:31 |
Snippet: | I enjoyed an article by Karen Donovan of the “American Lawyer Media News Service” that was published by “Law Journal Extra”.
Apparently, Aiks, rewriting history becomes more complicated when people are allowed to ask you nasty questions. See: http://www.ljx.com/LJXfiles/dojvms.html (I have no permament location for the file.) |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-29 02:48:36 |
Snippet: | To get in the mood for Microsoft’s next witness on the stand ProComp has listed some of the already familiar quotes, such as: “We need to smile with Novell when we pull the trigger” and “[Windows98] must be a simple upgrade, but most importantly it must be a killer on OEM shipments so that Netscape never gets a chance on these systems.” Nice reading to get in the mood: http://www.procompetition.org/xp/p-headlines/i-current/a-917630416/p_article.view |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-29 20:43:21 |
Snippet: | At the DoJ’s side one can find the transcripts of all of Gates’ deposit testimony since the end of the first part of the trial.
Microsoft Now that See: http://www.mercurycenter.com/business/tech/docs/001048.htm (By the way, Gates spoke to Associated Press about the deposit and said the following: |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-29 22:27:41 |
Snippet: | Earlier I mentioned that Microsoft presented KDE in court and called it the “Caldera operating system”. Now they go further and introduce software as competition of which the makers – the list of developers now says there are ten in all – say: “All Okay, so we have software in alpha stage here. When looking at the site we find that ten developers are working on the package. Let’s have a fragment from John Warden questioning Paul Maritz in court: Q. WILL YOU TELL THE COURT WHAT IS IN 2318, MR. MARITZ? 14 BY MR. WARDEN: 19 I AM AWARE OF ANOTHER EFFORT CALLED “ABI SOURCE.” 20 AND THEY ARE ATTEMPTING TO DO MUCH THE SAME THING. THEY’VE Somebody ought to inform Microsoft’s senior vice-president of platforms and applications about the value of a screenshot. You can find the relevant websites at the following locations: http://koffice.kde.org/ and http://www.abisource.com/ |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-30 23:26:22 |
Snippet: | I just re-read Dean Schmalensee’s prepared testimony. I find the following quote interesting:
“All successful software packages have high profit margins. I wonder how Mr. Schmalensee and Mr. Maritz think to combine the categorical statement that “All successful software packages have high profit margins.” with their claims that free software has a very real chance to be successful. “The To be more explicit: If it is a necessary condition for a “successful software package” to have a “high profit margin”, By the way, WordPerfect8 (for Linux at least) can’t |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-31 15:18:29 |
Snippet: | Apparently forgetting that Microsoft is today buying into cable companies in a big way, Paul Maritz explained in court that cable companies can provide an important channel for competition and that whoever controls them has a “strong influence on what software you choose to download onto your computer”. Maritz said: As reported earlier, Microsoft has sunk billions of Mr. Maritz’ statement makes clear that Microsoft’s buying into cable companies is relevant with regard to its monopoly position. The fragment came from the transcript of the 28 Jan 1999 am session of the antitrust trial. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-01-31 16:56:04 |
Snippet: |
As seen in Chairman Gates’ book “The We see |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-01-31 18:49:22 |
Snippet: | Always the first to trumpet about the protecting of their own copyrights, Microsoft turns out to have no qualms to stamp their own copyright notice on the trial transcripts as published at their site. For an example you can just pick the latest transcript published at their site as of writing this item: At the bottom of the transcript you’ll find: �1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-01 11:40:46 |
Snippet: | Graham Lea seems to have spent the weekend with the transcripts of the trial sessions with Paul Maritz. The prolific result is spread all over the front page of The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/ |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-01 16:01:58 |
Snippet: |
The testimony of Microsoft’s Dr. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2198376,00.html If Finally, |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-02-02 05:23:09 |
Snippet: | Always a good showman, Sun’s CEO makes for good quotes during the “World Economic Forum”‘s annual meeting where Chairman Gates also spoke to the public (World *executives* forum?). “Microsoft is a planned economy. Left unfettered, “If they are allowed to use that leverage before “What It seems to me that (I’ll leave the quotes on the importance of not-breaking up Microsoft as an exercise to the reader.) |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-02 08:18:58 |
Snippet: | To emphasize how much Dr. Felten’s modifications harmed its performance, Microsoft presented a video to the court. Unfortunately, the opposition there noticed an irregular cut in the tape. Apparently, Microsoft’s supposed proof was forged. David Boies aptly remarked: “How in the world could your people have run this program? … You do understand you came in here and swore this was accurate?” See: http://www.boston.com/news/packages/microsoft/ Related: |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-02 21:48:29 |
Snippet: | While one group of Microsoft lawyers is telling the court the the browser is part of Windows, another group has been telling the patent office that: “It should be understood by those skilled in the art that a Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, … is separate from the operating system.” The See: http://www.statesman.com/FEATURES/technology/microsoft/ms_bundling.html (Courtesy of Richard Fane.) |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-02 21:56:54 |
Snippet: | The article contains no acquisitions not mentioned earlier here, but I’m glad to have my list confirmed by another party (Hmm, there is one numerical difference.) See: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,31777,00.html?st.ne.lh..ni |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-03 00:27:17 |
Snippet: | William Neukom, senior vice-president of corporate affairs and law: “This is a tiny, tiny part of a very long tape and it doesn’t stand for anything more than things can happen with software.” (This compares with “a tiny, tiny” bit pregnant. “Things can happen with software” – This has nothing whatsoever to do with software as technology, but solely with filming something that was set in scene. Now that it turns out to have been tampered with, it is very hard to conclude that the tampering was not intentional too.) Microsoft spokesperson Mark Murray called the affair of “essentially nit-picking an issue like video production.” The video-affair was bad for Microsoft’s The quotes are from: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,31808,00.html?st.ne.lh..ni |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-03 10:00:05 |
Snippet: | Shortly after filing with the SEC that he wants to divert himself of 3.5 million Microsoft shares, Bill Gates today enters talks with Holland’s prime minister. Could this be purely coincidental? No I can’t help being reminded |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-03 11:44:14 |
Snippet: | You can find the testimony of Michael T. Devlin, president of Rational Software Corporation at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/mswitness/devlin/devlin.htm
In his testimony Michael Devlin touts the importance of the presence of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer on their customers computers:
What For those interested, Mr. Coincidentally, I visited the So, what is Microsoft to Rational? Although
Apparently, having an “alliance” with Microsoft gives “access” to sources not open as “IE APIs are publicly available”. If
Clearly, Rational manages to For this reason I consider Mr. Devlin to apply a double standard. This About being asked by Microsoft to testify, Mr. Devlin states:
I hope to |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-04 02:27:51 |
Snippet: | By mouth of spokesperson Mark Murray:“One In Quote from: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,31913,00.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-04 09:53:08 |
Snippet: | (Posted by Mitch Stone to am-info=”appraising Microsoft” mailinglist.)
http://www.zdnet.com/talkback/22_26562_108781.html MS issues marching orders ... I The It is interesting to count the postings that do exactly this. Most interesting, indeed. http://www.zdnet.com/talkback/22_26562_108905.html
Marching orders? I'd refute that. First, I'm a test manager for an Internet related feature and have heard nothing. Secondly, Honestly, the word from Management is focus on your work and deliver product. Disclaimer: My thoughts may or may not coincide with anyone else's including my boss, my boss' boss, etc. http://www.zdnet.com/talkback/22_26562_109065.html MS orders confirmed. I But frankly, I did not interprete the thing as 'encouraging us to post'. It was more like 'Do it! And do it a lot!' And Update: Wired tried to trace the author of the first posting. Interesting. See: http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/17745.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-04 10:01:03 |
Snippet: | You can find Graham Lea’s extensive account of the video-affair here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/990204-000005.html and here:http://www.theregister.co.uk/990204-000004.html. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-04 13:50:31 |
Snippet: | Microsoft has now for some time claimed that every “modern operating system” contains an integrated browser.
Jean-Louis Gass�e writes about the claim:
For the full article, see: http://www.be.com/aboutbe/benewsletter/volume_III/Issue5.html#Gassee |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-04 20:27:51 |
Snippet: | In this story:
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,31986,00.html suspicions Interestingly, here http://www.theregister.co.uk/990204-000016.html we |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-02-05 06:17:50 |
Snippet: | More of Microsoft’s strategy for the World Wide Web comes into focus with the news that Microsoft has a patent on the idea of Cascading Style Sheets. This is an element of the newer versions of the standards for the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) under the auspices of the W3 Consortium. Microsoft is a member of the W3 Consortium and took an active role in promoting the idea of making Cascading Style Sheets into a standard. Curiously, they did not mention their patent on this idea. Yet the patent itself: http://www.patents.ibm.com/patlist?icnt=US&patent_number=5860073 explicitly refers to the W3 Consortium’s standards document. Right For more details and discussion of the Microsoft patent on Cascading Style Sheets, see the Slashdot story at http://slashdot.org/articles/99/02/04/169219.shtml |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-02-05 06:54:41 |
Snippet: | Who would ever have imagined that the Internet doesn’t transport data traffic at constant speed? Not Microsoft’s engineers at least. They proposed to do a performance test directly over the Internet. This can be done to some degree by a statistical analysis of the test data. But that was not Microsoft’s intention. Microsoft proposed to repeat a test that was to show that To the public and to Says spokesperson Tod Nielsen:
Giving up after four Was Microsoft sorry
If This attitude is not
Could it be Sources: Update: |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-05 11:27:53 |
Snippet: | As noted earlier, the Dutch government has been hanging on Bill Gates lips to learn how to introduce computers in education. Meanwhile, the scene has repeated itself in Germany. What See: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,32014,00.html?st.ne.lh..ni |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-05 18:04:36 |
Snippet: | Paul Crowley sent a message to the am-info mailinglist that I wanted to reprint here. If you won’t follow all links, I suggest you pick at least the Web Standards Project press release. Here is the unabridged message:
|
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-07 02:10:53 |
Snippet: | On Bill’s current European trip, he gives an interview to Denmark’s national radio. A transcript can be found at http://linuxtoday.com/stories/2856.html.
The |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-02-07 06:26:27 |
Snippet: | In an effort to extend the W3C XML standard with a standard for storing and sharing object programming and design information, OMG members such as Unisys, IBM, Oracle, Platinum, Fujitsu, Softeam, and Daimler-Benz, and supported by Rational Software, Sprint, Sybase, Xerox, MCI Systemhouse, Boeing, Ardent, ICONIX, Integrated Systems, Verilog, NCR, and NTT, have created and accepted the new XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) format. Microsoft, Rule See: http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?99025.ehomg2.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-07 22:22:11 |
Snippet: | After it was found out that a video that Microsoft presented to the court as factual material was in fact edited from video-fragments that didn’t represent the actual testing, Microsoft on the one hand started calling what it earlier submitted as proof an “illustration”, and on the other hand requested for an opportunity to remake the video. To the surprise of Microsoft’s Even Retrospectively, Thus the See: http://www.seattletimes.com/news/technology/html98/micr_020599.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-08 02:42:21 |
Snippet: | Graham Lea has once more spent a busy weekend with the trial transcripts. You can find the results all over the front page of The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk Update: Coverage of the Microsoft video-affair in The Register:
|
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-08 17:43:07 |
Snippet: | ProComp wrote an article on Microsoft’s present witness on the stand, William Poole. Mr. Poole is Senior Director, Business Development and Personal Business Systems Group. See: http://www.procompetition.org/xp/p-headlines/i-current/a-918502695/p_article.view |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-08 23:14:11 |
Snippet: | If you like to read articles that depict Microsoft’s present situation as not very happy, you might enjoy a couple of San Jose Mercury New articles:
Update: Richard Fane sent a reference to another good beating: And the times they are a changin’ by John McCormick for Inter@ctive Week. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-09 10:34:55 |
Snippet: | The taboo on critizing Microsoft seems to have been broken now. This seems like a landslide, but it is really only a start.
Despite Meanwhile, Microsoft is one The following two articles give ProComp: http://www.procompetition.org/xp/p-headlines/i-current/a-918597967/p_article.view (article by Alfred Foer, President American Antitrust Institute) |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-10 03:31:39 |
Snippet: | People at ProComp seem to find delight in introducing the next Microsoft witness before he (never she in this trial) takes the stand. Shortly, Cameron Myhrvold is Microsoft More in the ProComp article: http://www.procompetition.org/xp/p-headlines/i-current/a-918598091/p_article.view |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-10 11:36:56 |
Snippet: | Eric Bennet wrote an overview of articles indicating the development of critical coverage of Microsoft by the press to the am-info mailinglist. You can find it here: http://lists.essential.org/am-info/msg01377.html In |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-10 13:11:46 |
Snippet: | Many a company has showed its technology to Microsoft in the hope of being considered complementary and useful, and therefore worthy of the support of Microsoft’s vast wealth and power over software markets As illustration you can It In 1996 a small Scottish company tried to gain favor with Microsoft by showing them their product and the expected happened: “A Once in court, Microsoft launched an army of Fearing yet another courtroom disaster, Microsoft gave in. For the full story in The Register by Graham Lea, see: http://www.theregister.co.uk/990210-000011.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-11 00:45:45 |
Snippet: | Microsoft now contends in court that their exclusive agreements with ISPs merely reflect agreements in the software industry and even any industry. According to Microsoft, Netscape sought no less exclusive agreements, so Microsft can not be guilty of any crime in doing this. This is wrong. What matters An argument like the above won’t easily be found in the |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-11 01:02:48 |
Snippet: | “As Vice President of Marketing, Personal and Business Systems division at Microsoft, Brad Chase leads client and server marketing strategy and business development for the Microsoft� Windows� operating system.” From what I’ve Mr. Chase attempts the impossible in showing The summary, containing a link to the entire testimony, can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/feb99/02-10chase.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-11 02:23:59 |
Snippet: | Another Microsoft witness has just made the DOJ’s point for it. Microsoft Internet Customer Unit Vice President Cameron Myrhvold admits that Microsoft was late in presenting its browser and that, if consumers were given a level playing field to choose between Internet Explorer and Netscape, he was afraid that Microsoft would not be able to dominate the market for browsers. The context of this testimony is vis a vis the exclusive deals that Microsoft made with ISP’s to distribute Internet Explorer at the expense of Netscape. However, it also fits nicely as an explanation for why Internet Explorer is not a removeable part of the latest Windows release and cannot be excluded from Windows by OEM’s. This admission of the desire to curtail consumer choice in browsers is an important one, since anti-trust cases are normally brought expressly to preserve consumer choice. Reference: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2206370,00.html |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-02-11 07:31:08 |
Snippet: | As soon as the trial started ZDNet started a scorecard. It gave points, but no explanations and was therefore not attractive to those who would like to do the counting themselves. Fortunately, they have now (for some time) revised See: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2194970,00.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-11 11:40:12 |
Snippet: | The “Citizens Against Government Waste” has some 600,000 members and less than one percent of their 1998 funding came from Microsoft. Everything they say seems to follow from the premiss that anarchy-enterprise-style is the ideal mode of existence. Under the title “National taxpayer watchdog group CAGW: http://www.cagw.org/ Press release: http://209.238.124.231/Media/Releases/02-09-99.htm Report: http://209.238.124.231/Reports/High-Tech-Series/anti-trust.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-12 01:41:25 |
Snippet: | John Lettice of The Register read the the press release, the testimony and the transcript and wrote his own remarks. I liked them ;-). |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-12 01:46:28 |
Snippet: | Microsoft allegedly pushed Internet Explorer by actually paying for its dissemination and requiring that Netscape’s Navigator was not also distributed by the payed party. Cameron Such a reply makes one wonder how much more Microsoft didn’t do “formally”. You can find the article from which the above is lifted at: |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-13 12:01:05 |
Snippet: | Gary Connors sent me a link to an article in the LA Times discussing Microsoft’s position. I was pleased to find that IBM’s old monopoly position is described as a hardware monopoly and that hardware differs from software. The difference seems quite obvious, but there are plenty of parties that claim on the one hand the especially the government is backward in understanding technological matters, while at the same time claiming that IBM’s position in the past is akin to Microsoft’s position today. Anyway, LA Times article: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/REPORTS/MICROSOFT/lat_micro990212.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-13 12:16:07 |
Snippet: | No doubt you are familiar with the Windows Refund Day that is to take place February 15th. You can find information at: http://linuxmafia.com/refund
As Furthermore, Actually, I have always been able to buy French Refund site: http://www.linux-center.org/detaxe/index.shtml |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-14 22:08:35 |
Snippet: | This is about the DR-DOS case planned for this summer (remember how Microsoft wanted to delay it another 120 days?)
As See: http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990212S0009 (I Update: It has taken some time, but you can now find a list of references to the individual motions at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/caldera/. |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-14 22:36:37 |
Snippet: | The goal of development tools is to wrap an interaction layer around a programming language that makes it easier to produce working code with it. One can do miracles with tools without modifying the language that is to be operated on. At Translated to the English language, Mr. When Mr. Leake says: See: http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?990213.ehcool.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-15 10:11:16 |
Snippet: | Good reading: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/micro.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-15 21:44:10 |
Snippet: | Microsoft is unwilling to refund those who could obtain the computer of their choice only on the condition that they would also buy the Windows operating system. Microsoft’s End User License Agreement mentions that a refund for Windows is possible, but passes the burden on to the vendor who provides the hardware and software. Typically, such vendors have no provisions for giving I allege that under European law, such computer If Microsoft Thus, |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-16 10:24:52 |
Snippet: | The Register published an article by John Lettice providing some context for the refund actions yesterday.
|
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-16 13:54:02 |
Snippet: | You can find the text of the hand-out that Microsoft presented to refund seekers here: http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/dear-valued-customer.html
The Note that Microsoft does not sell Thus, Microsoft’s responsibility for the Windows |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-16 21:46:48 |
Snippet: | Jerry Passacaglia sent me a link to a list of reports on the antitrust trial. Due to bad connectivity, I only read the first – discussing Vinod Valloppil showing KDE and telling the unwitting audience that they are looking at the “Caldera Operating System”. The writer of the article didn’t notice the KDE part, but did take the trouble to mention that Paul Maritz, praising Linux to the skies today, was last year dismissing the OS as a “curiosity”. Did so much change in the meantime? I especially liked the statement (real-timing/waiting for the page)Ah, page two of the list has just been loaded. I’ll read on a bit, but post this now. Here’s the link to the first of the pages: http://www.pathfinder.com/fortune/1999/03/01/mic.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-17 00:47:36 |
Snippet: | Microsoft’s proposal nine years ago to let Intuit restrict itself to DOS and the Macintosh is yet another illustration of their strategy to implement a centrally planned industry where companies carry out their assigned role instead of competing with one another. See: http://www.seattletimes.com/news/technology/html98/micr_021699.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-17 11:09:17 |
Snippet: | After an initial preliminary decision that the deposits were to be kept secret at Microsoft’s request, despite the letter of the law, stalling the process of a final decision after that, and then deciding that the law was to be upheld and the deposits were to be made public (and accessible to the press), we now find that they are still kept secret to give Microsoft a chance to appeal. (Same article as in previous item.) |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-17 11:17:47 |
Snippet: | The language of the testimony sounds as if Mr. Rose is fulfilling cross-promotional agreements with Microsoft.
I Although
You can find the summary here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/feb99/02-16rose.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-17 11:53:10 |
Snippet: | Rapidly increasing political staff, attempts to persuade states to drop the case, supporting loud pressure groups, and well, the nationwide advertisements weren’t mentioned. James Grimaldi of the Seattle Times reports: http://www.seattletimes.com/news/technology/html98/tria_021799.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-18 09:49:16 |
Snippet: | Only a few days after protesters took the trouble to come by Microsoft’s office to request a refund for software that is tied with hardware according to Microsoft’s contracts with OEM’s but not used by people who prefer to use an alternate operating system – a large and growing number according to Microsoft’s sworn statements in court – we can read in the Washington Post that no consumers have been harmed. Apperently, Mr. Ignatius of the First of all, Mr. Ignatius is wrong about Given that Microsoft can distribute its browser in such a Does Microsoft has managed to have consumers being taxed I Well, you can find the article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/stories/1999/ignatius021799.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-18 10:24:22 |
Snippet: | The anti-trust trial lately has taken a faster pace with the DOJ’s Boies doing the cross-examination of Microsft’s witnesses. Yesterday, Compaq executive John Rose was on the stand when he admitted to Judge Jackson that presently, “there are no commercially viable alternatives to Windows.” More detail is here: http://www.mercurycenter.com/business/top/069891.htm Today, the report from Graham Lea here http://www.theregister.co.uk/990218-000014.html |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-02-19 05:36:29 |
Snippet: | The pattern of Microsoft’s latest testimonies seems to be a written testimony saying something like “Gosh, how can anyone think that…” followed by an admission in court saying “Well, actually we…”. Rather pitiful for the executives for that are forced to play hide-and-seek with truth. Eric Engstrom is Microsoft’s General Manager of MSN Internet Access, his testimony can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/mswitness/engstrom/engstrom_full.htm Dan Rosen is Microsoft’s General Manager of new technology, his testimony can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/mswitness/rosen/rosen_full.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-19 11:20:58 |
Snippet: | Richard Fane sent in a link to a BusinessWeek article on the many forces working against Microsoft’s success.
“All See: http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_08/b3617022.htm (I |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-19 11:34:28 |
Snippet: | Compaq’s John Rose’s credibility was damaged during the trial:
See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/feed/biztop919427459475.htm Update: The New York Times came down pretty hard on the testimony too: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/02/biztech/articles/19soft.html |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-19 18:57:57 |
Snippet: | A class-action suit has been brought against Microsoft and the major OEM partners of its trust for damages inflicted by monopolistic pricing of its products. As became clear during the Windows Refund events, Microsoft holds OEMs like Compaq, Dell and Packard Bell responsible for tying the sale of the Windows operating system to their computer systems. The resulting trust Although Compaq now claims that a The difference between the Well, the setup looks like a classic conspiracy against consumers and that’s what has given rise to the class-action suits. “MS socked with two class action suits” “Charles Lingo: Microsoft’s worst enemy” |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-20 12:57:51 |
Snippet: | Pursuant to the preliminary injunction telling Microsoft to comply with Sun’s Java specification or warn developers their tools may produce incompatible code, Microsoft sought a clarification on whether the injunction would cover “an independently produced Java.” Judge Ronald Whyte has ruled that, since neither party has brought up that possibility before, the injunction would not cover an independently produced Java. If this part of the ruling is Why References: |
By: | Roy Bixler |
Date: | 1999-02-20 17:28:06 |
Snippet: | Ian Kluft of the Silicon Valley Linux User Group (SVLUG) wrote a short article on the benefits of the Essential Facility remedy.
The It The You can find Ian’s article here: http://www.svlug.org/editorials/19990220-ms-antitrust.shtml |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-21 15:15:17 |
Snippet: | A class-action lawsuit against Microsoft for monopolistic pricing won’t lead to a sufficient return of money to consumers to be worth the trouble. The real benefits of Per See: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/zdnn_rc_display2/0,3733,2213627,00.html (Link courtesy of Richard Fane.) |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-21 15:29:53 |
Snippet: | … I can go back to programming.
I thoroughly enjoyed Dan Gillmor’s article: http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/dg022199.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-21 16:13:14 |
Snippet: | For a couple of months now John Katz has been writing items for slashdot.org and I saw at the bottom of his San Jose Mercury News article “The end of the Microsoft Age” that he even has a slashdot.org e-mail account. Strikes me as cool. Anyway, the article is here: http://www.mercurycenter.com/opinion/perspective/docs/katz21.htm |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-22 11:24:16 |
Snippet: | Katie Hafner wrote for a follow-up on the results of Gates’ multi-billion dollar donations to be spent on placing computers in public libraries. http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/02/biztech/articles/21gates.html (New York Times: registration required.) (One |
By: | Case Roole |
Date: | 1999-02-22 11:37:20 |
Snippet: | Business Week Online reports that although the DOJ wasn’t able to find any OEMs who would testify against Microsoft, many were subpoenaed for depositions, and the government has placed their statements into evidence. |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-22 21:38:47 |
Snippet: | Microsoft witness Dan Rosen holds fast to his claim that Microsoft wanted to partner, not compete, with Netscape.Now if he can just explain why it necessary to “wrest” leadership from them. |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-22 21:42:49 |
Snippet: | Story by Robin Raskin, FamilyPC
“While the Justice Department and Bill Gates I wonder if the New York Times will pick up on this? http://www.zdnet.com/familypc/stories/main/0,4858,388390,00.html |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-22 22:33:36 |
Snippet: | “Over the years, Compaq has been the most aggressive among the personal computer makers in seeking a measure of independence from Microsoft, even as it is one of Microsoft’s closest allies and largest customer. Frequently, Compaq’s actions have not fit neatly into the picture of a company in Microsoft’s monopolistic grip, constantly seeking favors and ever-fearful of reprisal — the picture the government tried to paint in court last week when a Compaq executive took the stand as a defense witness for Microsoft. Yet it is also true that there is an established |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-23 01:48:35 |
Snippet: | I’m legal expert, but I think it’s a bad sign when, during your testimony, the spectators laugh out loud and the judge rolls his eyes. http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/REPORTS/MICROSOFT/MICROWIRE/tCB00V0876.1.html Microsoft witness contradicts himself and others “I http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?990222.wirosen2.htm |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-23 03:11:41 |
Snippet: | Legal experts wonder if the first two consumer oriented law suits are about to start a stampede. |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-23 16:48:23 |
Snippet: | Here’s The Register’s take on Dan Rosen’s testimony.
“A http://www.theregister.co.uk/990223-000005.html MS trial to recess over March – this story has a little more to say about Mr. Rosen’s credibility. |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-23 17:01:38 |
Snippet: | Here’s an excellent BBC produced summary of last weeks testimony by Microsoft VP Brad Chase and Compaq VP John Rose.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1998/04/98/microsoft/newsid_284000/284219.stm |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-23 17:18:59 |
Snippet: | This is an editorial at the San Jose Mercury:
“How http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/viewpoints/docs/062684.htm Does the Internet affect only the people who use it? Or does it affect everybody? Another San Jose Mercury editorial – she considers the effects of the immediate release of trial transcripts on the Internet. http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/viewpoints/docs/mg021799.htm |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-23 17:33:02 |
Snippet: | The Register takes a peek at the written testimony of Joachim Kempin. |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-23 23:50:31 |
Snippet: | Mary Jo Foley, Sm@art Reseller
At http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2214885,00.html U.S. Says Microsoft Witness Made Up Evidence Boies Rosen said he never actually got the Boies looked at the witness and said slowly: “You don’t remember that, do you sir? You’re just making that up right now.” |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-24 00:08:15 |
Snippet: | By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller “In his testimony, Kempin revisits charges against Microsoft of product tying, exclusionary contracts and prohibitive first-boot requirements. And like a number of his Microsoft predecessors on the stand, Kempin devotes much of his testimony to splitting hairs regarding the meaning of terms, such as “browser.” http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2214716,00.html |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-24 03:17:28 |
Snippet: | BY DAVID L. WILSON for the San Jose Mercury “In http://www.mercurycenter.com/business/microsoft/trial/breaking/docs/mstrial022399.htm Another one bites the dust “As http://www.mercurycenter.com/business/microsoft/trial/breaking/docs/gray022399.htm |
By: | Rick Fane |
Date: | 1999-02-24 08:47:42 |
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