[Am-info] 'Big Guns' Weigh In On Microsoft Case

[John J. Urbaniak]

madodel@ptdprolog.net wrote:

> From: Computerworld_Daily@Computerworld.com
>
> 'Big guns' weigh in on Microsoft case
>
> Former federal judges, including Kenneth Starr and Robert Bork, as well as
> a Nobel laureate and two past attorneys general spoke out on the proposed
> antitrust settlement during the last day of public comment.
>
> http://computerworld.com/nlt/1%2C3590%2CNAV47_STO67779_NLTPM%2C00.html
>
> _______________________________________________

>From the article:

"Among the supporters of the deal: two former attorney  generals, Griffin
Bell, who served during the Carter presidency, and Edwin Meese, from the
Reagan era; and the White House counsel during the first Bush presidency, C.
Boyden Gray.

In comments released by the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), the
former White House officials  said the remedy proposed by the nine states that
have refused to accept the settlement "would effectively destroy  the Windows
standard."

=======

Excuse me, exactly when was Windows declared "standard?"  Like the meter, the
kilogram, the degree fahrenheit, etc ...?

Like Fortran, COBOL, etc?

I was a member of the ANSI REXX Standards Committee.  I am quite aware of the
rigourous procedures one must follow to obtain status as a "standard."  At a
bare minimum, one must document *exactly* what happens in the execution of all
the operations of the system.

Windows(tm) is NOT a standard by any acceptable form of measure.  Hell, there
are at least 10 version of Windows itself:

  1. Windows 95

  2. Windows 98

  3. Windows 98SE

  4. Windows ME

  5. Windows NT 3.51

  6. Windows NT 4

  7. Windows 2000

  8. Windows 2000 Professional

  9. Windows XP Home

 10. Windows XP Professional

Plus fixes, subsystems, etc. I'm sure I've left some out as well.

Exactly which of these is the "standard" those ACT flunkies are talking
about?  Which of these systems has been submitted and approved to the ANSI
Standards Board?

John