MS anti-trust case is back

[vniow]

........like it ever went away.

MS just made sure that you didn't hear about it for awhile, but now it's heating back up again:

The European Commission will issue a preliminary ruling in an antitrust case against Microsoft late this year and a final decision next year, a top official said Friday.

The Commission is investigating allegations that Microsoft used dominant power in the operating systems market for personal computers to improve its position in other markets.

In what could be a legal blow to Microsoft, a federal judge has signaled that antitrust plaintiffs who filed recent private lawsuits against the software giant might be able to use findings from the government's earlier case, according to published reports.

The comments by U.S. District Judge Frederick Motz in Baltimore were made during a one-day hearing on a motion by plaintiffs Thursday. The plaintiffs--including number of software makers--asked that they be allowed to base their lawsuits on the antitrust violations that were established in the Justice Department's long-running case against Microsoft.

 

[SilvorX]

lol, they'll never be out of this crud, the day they let the comp manufacturers ship without windows mess/ie (installed) will be the days of win 95 lol jk..

 

[MrMacMan]

The sad thing about the case is they are gonna get away with it.

 

[mcrain]

Originally posted by MrMacman
The sad thing about the case is they are gonna get away with it.

Hello? Get away with it? Are you kidding me? Even if they get the anti-trust suit dismissed and win the case 100% (which they won't), this case has damaged them immensely, and cost them an enormous amount of money. Not to mention what it did to the company's reputation and stock values.

 

[ddtlm]

mcrain:

I think you vastly underestimate Microsoft. Anti-MS sites like Slashdot still carry stories from time to time talking about MS's continuing misbehavior... and MS is still rolling in massive profits even with the economic slowdown.

 

[mcrain]

Originally posted by ddtlm
mcrain:

I think you vastly underestimate Microsoft. Anti-MS sites like Slashdot still carry stories from time to time talking about MS's continuing misbehavior... and MS is still rolling in massive profits even with the economic slowdown.

No, I don't underestimate them, I just said they haven't "gotten away" with it. Sure they have gobs of money, and sure they still do bad things, but to think they have gotten away with something despite the federal suit and resultant effects, is wrong.

 

[ddtlm]

mcrain:

They are still a monopoly, still very profitable when everyone else is lucky to break even, and they still abuse their power. What haven't they gotten away with, then?

They might suffer some ill effects should the courts actually impose penalties in the current case, but there is no idication as to what the court will actually do.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

that's like saying OJ didn't get away with it eh?

 

[AssassinOfGates]

I dream of the day those pigs get shut down.

Bill Gates: "But you can't shut us down! We own 95%. Ill, ill release another y2k bug!"

The judge snaps his fingeers and points to Bill, at which he is escorted away, and whimpers.


But in all seriousness this is a very good thing because more fruserated users can see the true evil behind their OS and it may give an incentive to switch to linux or Mac.

 

[wdlove]

The free market system & innovation will eventually be his downfall!