[Am-info] Down the River

[Bill Forrest]

Wow. :-(  This is far cry from the recommended breakup
that I had hoped for originally. I have an unsettling
feeling that we're right back where we started in the
very beginning. I'm very disappointed. Looks like it's
Microsoft's world. We're just all squirrels trying to
get a nut.

Bill Forrest

--- Mitch Stone <mitch@accidentalexpert.com> wrote:
> Does anyone who thought this wasn't going happen
> care to comment?
> 
> =====
> 
>
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011102/tc/microsoft_dc_3.html
> 
> Friday November 2 10:49 AM ET 
> 
> U.S. Reaches Settlement with Microsoft
> 
> By Peter Kaplan
> 
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department
> on Friday said it had 
> reached an antitrust settlement with Microsoft Corp.
> that calls for the 
> software giant to give computer makers more
> flexibility and share the 
> inner workings of its Windows operating system with
> other software firms.
> 
> The pact, which must be approved by a federal judge
> and is not yet 
> endorsed by the states that joined the case, is a
> far cry from splitting 
> the company in two, a remedy sought by the previous
> administration under 
> President Clinton.
> 
> The settlement would allow computer manufacturers to
> work with other 
> software developers and place their products on
> Microsoft's (Nasdaq:MSFT 
> - news) Windows system, and prevent the software
> giant from punishing 
> anyone who makes or uses competing products, the
> department said.
> 
> It would also require the software giant to provide
> software developers 
> the necessary interfaces to inter-operate with
> Windows as well as offer 
> uniform licensing terms to key computer makers.
> 
> ``This historic settlement will bring effective
> relief to the market and 
> ensure that consumers will have more choices in
> meeting their computer 
> needs,'' U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said in
> a statement.
> 
> At a hearing on Friday, District Court Judge Colleen
> Kollar-Kotelly 
> granted the 18 states still in the case until
> Tuesday to examine the 
> settlement.
> 
> If approved, the pact would bring to an end a
> three-year-old legal battle 
> in which Microsoft was found to have illegally
> maintained its monopoly in 
> personal computer operating systems.
> 
> Microsoft shares rose slightly at the start of
> trading on the Nasdaq 
> stock market but then fell back. They were off 60
> cents, to $61.24, after 
> jumping more than 6 percent on Thursday on reports
> of a tentative 
> settlement. The shares have risen about 50 percent
> this year but remain 
> below a 52-week high of $76.15.
> 
> SETTLEMENT SEEN FAVORABLE TO MICROSOFT
> 
> Alan Loewenstein, a portfolio co-manager at John
> Hancock Technology Fund, 
> which owns shares in Microsoft, said the proposed
> settlement looked very 
> favorable to the company.
> 
> ``It's the best thing for the company. They didn't
> split the company up. 
> They didn't say you have to unbundle things,'' said
> Loewenstein.
> 
> [...]
> 
>  Mitch Stone  
>  mitch@accidentalexpert.com
> 
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> Am-info mailing list
> Am-info@lists.essential.org
> http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/am-info


=====


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