After takin' a swig o' grog, Roy Schestowitz belched out this bit o' wisdom:
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Who will buy the pieces of Microsoft after the final breakup? No
> | one would want the operating system. A leveraged buyout for the
> | Office group seems likely. Oracle looks like the winner in the
> | business services business and it's the auction block for the rest
> | of the company. The DRM and codecs go to Real Networks.
> `----
>
> http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/57030/
This is the same kind of thing for which IBM wound up in an
anti-trust action in 1968 and something for which Judge Sporkin
blasted Microsoft in his 1995 edict:
"This Court cannot ignore the obvious. Here is the dominant firm
in the software industry admitting it `preannounces' products to
freeze the current software market and thereby defeat the
marketing plans of competitors that have products ready for
market. Microsoft admits that the preannouncement is solely for
the purpose of having an adverse impact on a competitor's
product. Its counsel states it has advised its client that the
practice is perfectly legal and it may continue the practice.
This practice of an alleged monopolist would seem to contribute
to the acquisition, maintenance, or exercise of market share. . .
February 14, 1995
Microsoft admits that the preannouncement is solely for the
purpose of having an adverse impact on a competitor's product.
Microsoft's lawyers said it was perfectly legal. Now that Vista
has a projected date of February 2007, do you wonder if they have
announced their product for the past 2.5 years to freeze people
from going to the competition?
--
Give me automake, gcc, vi, an xterm, and a Linux box, and I'm a happy guy.
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