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

Equal pay for women - not yet

Women in the EU earn on average 18% less than men - a gap that has scarcely narrowed over the last 15 years and in some countries has even grown. more »

EU's biggest-ever energy package

43 gas and electricity projects to split €2.3bn, the most the EU has ever spent on energy infrastructure in a single package. more »

Georgia to gradually integrate into the European common aviation market

Georgia and the European Union have initialled a comprehensive air services agreement at a meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia, today which will open up and integrate the respective markets, strengthen cooperation and offer new opportunities for consumers and operators. more »

Mobility Programme for Business and Industry calls for applications

In order to vitalize and strengthen cooperation of business stakeholders in the region, the Nordic and Baltic countries continue running joint mobility programme. more »

EBRD and Société Générale support economies in Serbia

The EBRD is boosting the availability of financing to the real economy sector in Serbia, with a €20 million credit line to Société Générale Serbia for on-lending to small and medium enterprises. more »

Armenia’s Ameriabank receives EBRD financing

The EBRD is supporting the development of the private sector in Armenia and increases further the availability of financing in the real economy sector with a $10 million loan to Ameriabank for on lending to local companies under its Medium Sized Co-financing Facility (MCFF). more »

EBRD funds modernisation of roads in Albania

The EBRD is supporting the modernisation and improvement of transport infrastructure in Albania with a €50 million sovereign loan to finance the rehabilitation of regional and local roads in the country. more »

Latvia: Social Investment Fund III Project Second Additional Financing

Given the deep impact Latvia has suffered in the wake of the global crisis, and due to the emergency nature of this program, the first operation will focus mainly on the first and second objectives. more »

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn to Visit Africa to Deepen Dialogue on the Continent’s Economic Challenges

Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will visit Africa March 7-11, to discuss opportunities and challenges facing African economies in the wake of the global crisis. more »

2011 budget: focus on youth and economic recovery

Without enough money, the EU 2020 strategy risks turning into "another vague scoreboard for the Member States", the EP Budgets Committee warned on Thursday when adopting its priorities for the 2011 budget. more »