[Am-info] MSBC newsletter

Sun, 27 Jan 2002 21:10:04 -0500

Paul Rickard has found time to produce another "BOYCOTT BULLETIN".

I applaud what this youn man is doing, and am passing his bulletin
along in its entirety, for those who do not subscribe.

Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com

======[ THE BOYCOTT BULLETIN  |  2002.01.26 (SPECIAL) ]===============
------- Official Newsletter of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign --------

      This is a special edition of the MSBC newsletter, to alert you of a
special circumstance surrounding the continuing antitrust lawsuit filed
against Microsoft by the United States government. But first, a note of
apology to all of you for our disappearance during the summer of 2001. In
late spring there were several events in my life that forced me to
temporarily shelve my work with the Campaign. I never intended to be on
hiatus more than a few weeks, but things progressed and weeks turned into
months and now it seems that we haven't sent out a completed newsletter
since June. Right now we are in the process of finishing one up, and
expect to have it done soon with an overview of everything that happened
after June 2001 - Windows XP, XBox, more details of the trial, and dozens
of other events. Again, I apologize for the loss of service during 2001
and want to thank you all for your patience with us, me particularly.
With that said, lets get down to business: the antitrust trial.

                                                            -Paul R.

======[ MSBC NEWSSOURCE  |  Http://www.msboycott.com/news/ ]==========

       *COURT NOTES: Over the last seven months, Microsoft has pulled
victory from the jaws of defeat in the antitrust trial. Back in June, you
may recall, the U.S. Court of Appeals panel in Washington, D.C. threw out
half of Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's original ruling in the case [see
Jun. 30, 2001 -
http://www.msboycott.com/news/01_06_30.shtml#1 ]. The half they dismissed
was the conclusion of law, basically the part of his ruling that
determined what laws Microsoft had broken through its behavior. The
behavior part of the ruling, wherein Jackson ruled on what Microsoft had
actually done, was left alone.
       The case was then returned to the district court level in order to
find a new conclusion of law. A new judge, 5 year district court veteran
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, was appointed to oversee the retrial since
Jackson had already stepped down from the case and was all but
disqualified by the appeals court ruling. The new judge wasted no time
and shortly after her appointment to the case demanded that the two sides
again go behind closed doors and work "24 hours a day, seven days a week"
until a settlement could be reached.
       Only hours before the judge's November 2nd deadline, the
Department of Justice and Microsoft finally did reach a settlement - but
not one that will satisfy many people, particularly the ones reading this
report. The proposed settlement, which Microsoft and the government both
agreed on to end the case, will overall do little (at best) to change
anything about Microsoft's dominant position over the computer industry.
The proposal calls for The Behemoth to disclose several protocols that
make its own servers work better with Windows than with other systems, to
stop retaliating against computer manufacturers who support competing
products, to license Windows evenly to every company, and "refrain from
contracts that force other companies to do its bidding." These are all
good ideas, of course, but it will be toothless once Microsoft's lawyers
have picked it apart like they did with one signed in 1994. Several of
the corrected issues are no longer relevant to the industry anyway and do
nothing to correct the damage Microsoft did to competitors like Netscape
by using those tactics in the past.
       However, having the plaintiff and defendant agreeing on a
settlement does not inherently mean the case is over. The deal still has
to be approved by Judge Kollar-Kotelly, who is legally required by the
Tunney Act to give the general public a 60 day period of comment before
agreeing to the settlement agreement. That gets us down to the purpose of
this update - that 60 day period ends on Monday, January 28, and we need
to contact the Department of Justice to make sure this weak, toothless,
useless deal never gets approval.

       We apologize for not sending this out earlier, but this alert can
still be effective if you send a comment in by early Monday morning. We
realize some subscribers who get the newsletter at their workplace won't
see this until the time is up, but some of you will get it before then so
we're taking the chance. It is of course too late to send anything
through traditional mail, so you have to e-mail the DoJ to voice your
opinion. We don't have a sample message here for you to use as a
template, but there are several examples in the Slashdot link below under
'Also See' if you need any help.
       Please e-mail your comments to microsoft.atr@usdoj.gov with the
subject 'Microsoft Settlement'. Thanks in advance for your help, efforts
that hopefully will make an impact and not be for naught. -|
       ALSO SEE:
    http://news.com.com/2100-1001-272164.html
    http://news.com.com/2100-1001-275317.html
    http://news.com.com/2100-1001-276837.html
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/01/23/0237225&mode=thread

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   "Microsoft is banking on Windows 2000 to be a Trojan Horse - they
    want to get this into companies and then start exploiting
    inter-relationships with the product. But I always say: beware of
    geeks bearing gifts." -Michael Gartenberg, Gartner Group VP.