Also:
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30393-2001Aug3.html
State and federal prosecutors in the Microsoft antitrust case continue to
wrestle with a critical decision: whether to try to block the release of
Windows XP, scheduled to reach stores on Oct. 25, or to have the company
modify the new operating system software. ... The fundamental question for
prosecutors is whether to try to force changes in XP before it ships to the
public, or to let XP go to market but use it as, in effect, the star
witness in upcoming hearings on what penalties should be imposed on
Microsoft...
********
[The Post's editorial could just as easily have been written: "THE VIGOR
with which the Justice Department and states have insisted that the recent
antitrust ruling by a federal appeals court mean Microsoft must kowtow to
their demands over its new operating system -- Windows XP -- has a familiar
and worrisome ring." --DBM]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30259-2001Aug3.html
Not So Fast
Editorial
Saturday, August 4, 2001; Page A22
THE VIGOR with which Microsoft has insisted that the recent antitrust
ruling by a federal appeals court has no implications for its new operating
system -- Windows XP -- has a familiar and worrisome ring. The software
giant plans to release XP in October, which means shipping it to computer
manufacturers this month. As has happened in advance of prior releases of
Microsoft's major new products, the impending move has provoked concerns
about what XP will do to competition in the software marketplace. And as
has happened in the past, Microsoft is waving off such concerns. The
difference, of course, is that Microsoft has now been found -- by a
unanimous D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals -- to be a monopolist that took
illegal steps to maintain its dominant position. In the face of the court's
powerful holding, the manner in which the company is now proceeding risks
antagonizing the courts and the Justice Department and making settlement of
this case more difficult.
[...]
One would think that all of this uncertainty would induce caution, to avoid
a situation in which XP is released only then to produce a train wreck in
the continuing antitrust litigation -- or, worse yet, new litigation.
Microsoft must realize that it has, in many sectors, exhausted its goodwill
and that it can ill afford now to be appearing to thumb its nose at the
federal courts by once again pushing limits. Particularly if the company is
as confident as it claims it is that XP avoids the pitfalls in which
Microsoft has earlier fallen, it should make every effort to reassure the
federal and state authorities who will have to decide how to react to the
product's impending release. Those authorities need to scrutinize the new
product in light of the court's ruling, and Microsoft will need to be
flexible about making any changes necessary to keep it within the law.
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Received on Aug 04 2001
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