[Am-info] Microsoft boasts of antitrust progress (?)

[John J. Urbaniak]

Yeah, and Saddam Hussein can be trusted to keep his word too.

John


Gene Gaines wrote:

> See ZDnews article at:
> http://netscape.com.com/2100-1104-955924.html
>
> Part of article below.
>
> Gene Gaines
> gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com
> Sterling, Virginia  USA
>
> Microsoft boasts of antitrust progress
>
> By Joe Wilcox
> Special to ZDNet News
> August 29, 2002, 11:08 AM PT
>
> Microsoft is seeking to underline the trust in its antitrust
> settlement.
>
> Though there was no legal requirement for it to do so, the
> software titan on Wednesday issued a progress report on the work
> it's been doing to comply with a proposed agreement it reached
> last year with the Justice Department and nine states.
>
> In its seven-page filing, Microsoft pointed to several milestones
> it had reached in accordance with the consent decree: Tuesday's
> release of application programming interfaces, the recent
> disclosure of Windows communications protocols, and the
> introduction of a new control into Windows 2000 and Windows XP
> that will let PC makers keep middleware such as the Internet
> Explorer browser off the software desktop.
>
> U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is reviewing that
> agreement and separately is looking at whether to impose stiffer
> sanctions against Microsoft, as requested by nine other states and
> the District of Columbia, which continued with the litigation.
>
> The timing of the filing could be important for Microsoft, say
> legal experts, given that the judge could still reject the
> November settlement, which the parties amended in February.
> Kollar-Kotelly's decision on the settlement and call for a stiffer
> remedy could come at any time.
>
> With the progress report, Microsoft is "trying to persuade
> (Kollar-Kotelly) they are trusted allies in the agreement they
> have signed onto," said Andy Gavil, an antitrust professor at
> Howard University School of Law. The filing "suggests they have an
> ongoing credibility gap they have to address--that they have to
> persuade the judge they can be trusted and will carry out what
> they say they will."
>
> The trust issue is crucial for Microsoft, given credibility
> concerns raised by the case's earlier jurist, U.S. District Judge
> Thomas Penfield Jackson, and the plaintiff states' call for
> stiffer sanctions. "It's a question of whether they can be trusted
> or whether they need to be before the court occasionally to make
> sure they toe the line," said Gavil.
>
> more...
>
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