[Am-info] "Bleeding heart" MS again

[Erick Andrews]

Microsoft is still pushing their doomsday defense.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/083/business/A_world_without_Windows_+.shtml

...and reading the last two paragraphs the author of this piece
seems supportive of MS.

However,  this part in the middle has some integrity for readers:

"The company's critics have little patience with Microsoft's 
complaints. Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly 
said that if Microsoft isn't forced to unbundle its software,
rival makers of browsers, media players and the like will never 
get a fair chance to enter the market. ''I just don't think it's 
Draconian to allow people to compete,'' Reilly said.

Reilly did admit that having to offer other versions of Windows
would be a tough job for Microsoft. ''But you've got to remember 
how we got here,'' he added. ''This is a company that's been found
to have broken the law.''

Indeed, other Microsoft critics make the same point. ''Whether 
that's a big job or a little job is immaterial to us,'' said Ken Wasch, 
president of the Software and Information Industry Association,
a trade group that supports tough penalties against Microsoft. ''If it's
a big job, it's Microsoft's own doing, because they deliberately 
crafted their middleware to make it difficult to rip them out.''

David Farber, professor of computer science at the University
of Pennsylvania, testified against Microsoft during the antitrust trial. 
He says that Microsoft is exaggerating the consequences of unbundling
Windows. ''Certainly you'll see a hiccup,'' said Farber.  ''There's no
question about that. But there'll be a lot more innovation because of the
hiccup.'' Besides, said Farber, the unbundling would only affect future
shipments of Windows, giving Microsoft and the rest of the industry 
plenty of time to sort out the problems."

-- 
Erick Andrews