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Re: [News] [Rival] Watch How Microsoft Buys the US Government

John Bailo wrote:

> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> Microsoft Finds Legal Defender in Justice Dept.
> 
>> | In the most striking recent example of the policy shift, the top
>> | antitrust official at the Justice Department last month urged state
>> | prosecutors to reject a confidential antitrust complaint filed by
>> | Google that is tied to a consent decree that monitors Microsoft's
>> | behavior. Google has accused Microsoft of designing its latest
>> | operating system, Vista, to discourage the use of Google's desktop
>> | search program, lawyers involved in the case said.
>> `----
>> 
>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/business/10microsoft.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
> 
> Yes, but this seems to be because of the same recognition that MS is no
> longer a powerful monopoly:
> 
> "The retrenchment reflects a substantially different view of antitrust
> policy, as well as a recognition of major changes in the marketplace.
> 
> The battlefront among technology companies has shifted from computer
> desktop software, a category that Microsoft dominates, to Internet
> search and Web-based software programs that allow users to bypass
> products made by Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker."

The complaint is that Microsoft are once again using their dominant position
in the desktop market to force a rival out of a market that Microsoft wants
to take control for itself. Microsoft succeeded in killing Netscape using
the same technique. The main reason for Microsoft's success was that they
were also able to get those producing web content to use Microsoft's
non-standards.

In the case of search, clearly, some portion of computer users will simply
accept what is pushed in their faces. The question though is whether the
majority of users are willing to put up with Microsoft's half-arsed search
results. Search is not quite the same thing as web pages. 

One can be assured that Microsoft will leave no stone unturned when it comes
to killing off another rival.

Ian

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