Dark day for MS

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Just in case any of ya haven’t heard.

The judge in the DOJ vs. MS trial has reported in a “finding of fact” document:

  1. MS had a monopoly in the PC OS market
  2. MS abused that monopoly
  3. MS harmed consumers
    No decision has been made on an action against MS.
2

Wonderful!

It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.

3

Which means that: 1) the government will fine MS enormously; and 2) we consumers will end up paying more for each p.c. now to recover the litigation costs.

4

Yeah, well, we could always drop all laws to protect against unfair business practices, Lisa, but I don’t think that would lead to consumers winning in the end. Whether an individual agrees with the ruling, once it is decided that laws are broken, something has to be done.

I think Microsoft would be thrilled if they got off with a fine, but I doubt it will be so simple. Reporters like to throw around the breakup idea (like the Bell companies), but I think it would be insane to do that to Microsoft. I think that the idea of forcing MS to license other companies to develop their own brands of Windows might work. Still that would be a huge blow to MS.

5

I want the dozens… and dozens of Steve Job’s fans to chant his name… Maintosh! Macintosh! Macintosh!
Micro$oft, die a slow death.
Maybe GUIs won’t even be around in the future. Maybe everyone will be so exposed to cpmputers, we’ll all be UNIX heads. Whatever happens, I hope Bill Gates won’t be there.

JMcC, San Francisco
http://members.tripod.com/~weirdstuff/index.html
“Hear the voices in my head, I swear to God it sounds like they’re snoring”

6

Please hold back your reactions.
Apparently, Microsoft can appeal any verdict that Jackson hands out. And a previous judgement of Jackson related to Microsoft has been overturned.
I read in the Washington Times that this trial is certain to drag on for a couple of years MORE…
What I am saying is the drama is far from over.
Lets sit back and enjoy it.

7

Hey, it wasn’t our platform that was monopolized by Microsoft*! Before Windows 3.1, most of you PC folk were using WordPerfect for word processing, Lotus 1-2-3 for spreadsheeting, and in all likelihood didn’t have a single Microsoft application on your computer.

Microsoft leveraged its insider knowledge of Windows to have Word for Windows (they called it that because Word by itself implied Macintosh to everyone!) and Excel ready when Windows was ready. While it is true that Lotus and WordPerfect Corp. underestimated Windows and didn’t devote enough resources to developing Windows versions of their software, this is in part due to the fact that they had no inkling of what Windows 3.x was really going to be like. Prior versions of Windows were only semi-GUI if I recall correctly, using custom fonts’ characters to draw “windows” and “buttons”. (Anyone who owned and used Windows 1.x or 2.x feel free to correct me on this). Only Microsoft really knew that Windows 3.0 was going to be a very Mac-like visual interface.

Next thing you know, PC users were using not only a Microsoft OS, but Microsoft applications. Subsequent PC Office suites competing with MS Office have not had the same / necessary insider information to keep up with changes in what the OS can do.

  • except in spreadsheets, where Microsoft has a monopoly (Excel) on the Mac.

Designated Optional Signature at Bottom of Post

8

I used Windows 2.X for some work application. Just taking a look at that was enough to decide that the future was not Windows.

Little did I know…