[Am-info] More propaganda

[Erick Andrews]

If I were to guess, Billie Boy & Co. have bought some more whitespace
and new dunderheads to fill with twaddle.

http://www.businesstoday.com/business/business/beac04122002.htm

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Study: Mass. will lose millions in settlement 

Friday, April 12, 2002

Massachusetts software developers and consumers will lose millions
under a proposed antitrust remedy against Microsoft Corp. (Chart),
according to a study by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University.

The plan offered by Attorney General Tom Reilly and his counterparts
in eight other states that Microsoft offer stripped-down versions of its 
Windows operating system means software developers will spend
an extra $3 billion writing different versions of their programs 
during the next three years.

Those extra costs are passed on to consumers who will pay at least $625
million more to get features such as instant messaging, audio players and 
browsers, the report said.

Small software firms will be hit the hardest, according to the report.

But Reilly said promoting free competition among computer companies
is his intent.

``The free market, not Microsoft, should decide the fate of new products
and emerging technology,'' he said yesterday. ``This case is about restoring 
competition and greater consumer choice, and invigorating the high-tech 
economy.'' Massachusetts joined eight other states in requiring Microsoft 
to go beyond an antitrust agreement the corporation reached with the 
U.S. Department of Justice. All of the states serve as homes to companies 
competing against Microsoft.

The institute report said the states are inviting chaos by pursuing the 
Microsoft antitrust issue separately from the Department of Justice.
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-- 
Erick Andrews