About Windows monopoly

Published: 24 September 1999 y., Friday
A government attorney intoned a litany of what he called Microsoft offenses against antitrust laws Tuesday morning before a packed courtroom. David Boies, the lead attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in its quest to reign in Microsoft practices, focused particularly on a June 21, 1995, meeting at which, he said, Microsoft tried to divide the browser marketwith Netscape Communications. He pointed to notes by then-Netscape chief technology officer Marc Andreessen as proof. "Look at the documents," Boies said. As has become his custom, Boies spoke fluidly, without notes, calling up documents at will to reinforce his points. He highlighted e-mail messages from Microsoft senior vice president Jim Allchin that talk of the company_s need to use Windows as a competitive advantage. "We must use Windows - it_s the one thing they do not have," Allchin wrote. Boies said Microsoft was so intent on using its Windows monopoly that it was willing to hold back new technology from OEM partners, even if those partners -- and, by extension, their customers -- would suffer as a result. In an e-mail message, Allchin wrote that the company should withold certain other technologies in Windows 98 so the company could get its Internet Explorer browser integrated with the OS. There was a market for a separate browser and an OS, but Microsoft not only integrated the browser into Windows, but also "welded it so OEMs and customers couldn_t change it," Boies said. Boies hammered home three points: that Microsoft monopolized the OS market, that it attempted to do the same with browsers --both in defiance of section two of the Sherman Antitrust Act -- and that it practiced unreasonable constraint of trade, a violation of section one. Toward the latter point, he said Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft entered into exclusive deals with ISPs to distribute and maintain its browser and to refrain from distributing Netscape Navigator. Microsoft will have its turn to present its key points later Tuesday afternoon.
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

Paris fashion week ignores economic pinch

European cities may still be feeling the pinch of the global recession. more »

EBRD supports private ownership in Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sector

The EBRD Board of Directors has approved a $50 million convertible loan to Petrolinvest to finance the completion of exploration works at the company’s main oilfields. more »

Car safety: European Commission welcomes international agreement on electric and hybrid cars

The European Commission welcomes the adoption today at the United Nations in Geneva of the first international regulation on safety of both fully electric and hybrid cars. more »

Lithuania’s rating outlook raised by fitch on budget

Bloomberg has today announced that Lithuania had the outlook on its credit rating raised by Fitch Ratings after the Government implemented an austerity program to curb the budget deficit. more »

Eurostat: Lithuania shows highest increase in retail trade

In January 2010, compared with December 2009, the highest increase in retail trade in the EU-27 Member States was observed in Lithuania. more »

Globalisation fund: Parliament backs aid to Germany and Lithuania

Three thousand former car, refrigerator and construction workers in Germany and Lithuania will get €7.6 million in EU globalisation adjustment fund aid for training, self-employment and job guidance after Parliament gave the green light on Tuesday. more »

Tourism: upbeat prospects for 2010 season

Some 80% of Europeans continue to travel for their holidays according to a new Eurobarometer survey on ‘The attitudes of Europeans towards tourism 2010’. more »

Consumer protection under discussion by MEPS

The EU's internal market will be under scrutiny Tuesday when a series of reports will be debated by MEPs in Strasbourg. more »

EU to provide 45,000 micro-loans to unemployed and small entrepreneurs

EU Employment and Social Affairs Ministers today agreed on a new facility to provide loans to people who have lost their jobs and want to start or further develop their own small business. more »

MEPs set to vote on help for German & Lithuanian workers

Over €7.6 million in financial aid for training and self-employment could be available to former workers in German and Lithuanian if MEPs back the measures Tuesday. more »