“The Department of Justice issued a news release this morning saying, ‘competition and consumers have benefited from the final judgments entered because of the Department’s antitrust enforcement efforts against Microsoft,'” Benjamin J. Romano reports for The Seattle Times.
“The Justice Department was joined by a handful of states. But several others, known as the California group, disagreed,” Romano reports. “As reported by Bloomberg News, antitrust regulators from California and five other states said in a filing today that Microsoft still maintains a monopoly over personal computer operating system software and some provisions of the settlement have yielded ‘little, if any, tangible pro-competitive results.'”
“The Justice Department cited several examples of middleware competitors — including Web browsers such as Mozilla’s Firefox, Opera, and Apple’s Safari; and multimedia players from Apple and Adobe — to support its assertion that the final judgment has protected competition,” Romano reports.
“It’s important to note — and the Justice Department does — that the settlement was only aimed at preserving competition in this middleware software category. It was not an attempt to roll back Microsoft’s monopoly in operating system software,” Romano reports.
Full article here.
Yet another travesty atop the travesty.
In the autumn of 1998, Apple’s recovery under Jobs was still fragile, its relationship with Microsoft forever precarious. If the DOJ had any prayer of persuading the company to throw caution aside and sign up for the trial, [Gary Reback, lawyer and antitrust specialist,] was clearly the man to see. In the mad scramble for fresh evidence and plausible witnesses, whatever lingering resentments Klein harbored toward the monomaniacal lawyer had receded. Reback was simply too useful, too plugged-in and switched-on, to be ignored. In a series of phone calls that September, Klein told Reback that he desperately wanted the Apple story to be part of the trial – and he wanted Jobs to be the one to tell it. Though the DOJ’s witness list was shaping up nicely, Klein was concerned that it lacked star power, featuring as it did only one big-name CEO – Jim Barksdale. Klein told Reback, “We have an Übermensch problem.”
Jobs was certainly Über, but no one had ever accused him of being a mensch. Visionary, volatile, volcanic, and vain, Apple’s CEO had made no secret of his skepticism about the DOJ’s capacity to prosecute Microsoft. “The government is bullshit! The government is bullshit!” he’d barked when a government lawyer visited him that spring to ask for his help in building the case. “You guys have done nothing, you haven’t figured it out, you’ve been too slow, you’ll never change anything. This is an incredibly sensitive time for Apple. Why should I jeopardize the future of my company when I have no faith that the government is going to do anything real?”
To Jobs, “real” meant one thing: breaking Microsoft up. For all his doubts about the DOJ’s competence, he was now grudgingly impressed by the government’s progress. In late September, after several lengthy talks with Reback, his friend Bill Campbell, and a number of DOJ intermediaries in the Valley, Jobs agreed to have a conversation with Klein about the possibility of testifying. When the two men connected by phone, with Jobs on vacation in Hawaii, he wasted no time in getting to the point. He wanted to hear Klein’s thinking on remedies.
Are you going to do something serious? Jobs demanded. Or, he asked, “Is it going to be dickless?” – Wired, “The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth,” Issue 8.11 – November 2000
Well, since one of you smug liberal maggots brought it up, let’s compare attorneys general:
• Civilians killed by Ashcroft: 0
• Civilians killed by Gonzales: 0
• Civilians killed by Reno: 80
_______________________________
• Innocent people put in prison by Ashcroft: 0
• Innocent people put in prison by Gonzales: 0
• Innocent people put in prison by Reno: at least 1
_______________________________
• Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Ashcroft: 0
• Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Gonzales: 0
• Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Reno: at least 1
_______________________________
• Number of innocent civilians accused of committing heinous crimes by Ashcroft: 0
• Number of innocent civilians accused of committing heinous crimes by Gonzales: 0
• Number of innocent civilians accused of committing heinous crimes by Reno: at least 1
_______________________________
• Number of 6-year-old boys deported to totalitarian dictatorships by Ashcroft: 0
• Number of 6-year-old boys deported to totalitarian dictatorships by Gonzales: 0
• Number of 6-year-old boys deported to totalitarian dictatorships by Reno: 1
Who brought up Janet Reno, you dolt?
So… you think because one criticizes the policies of the current administration, they must be proponents of former atty.’s general?
Thank you for demonstrating so nicely how fscking stupid you are. Nice to know you can count as high as 80. Here are a couple more numbers for you to ponder:
American Civilians Killed on 9/11: 2,973
American Soldiers Killed Since Bush Proclaimed “Mission Accomplished”: 3,596
Die in a hole, maggot.
@Ricky Bobby
Go Fsck Yourself!
Soldiers = Cannon Fodder
MW: progress. How ironic.
@ Oops
Don’t you mean: number of 6-year-old boys returned to their parental home instead of being held hostage in a hostile country?
@Get Real
“The US is a free market country and not a socialist haven like the EU or Canada.”
Hey “Get Real” you need to “Get Out” more, you’ve not likely ever been to Canada or the EU. Now I know you’re going to come back with a clever little response like “why would I want to visit those shitholes” so I’m just gonna tell you to fsck off now.
Peace and flowers
p.s. MDN Magic Word “called” as in your mom just did.
Yeah, like anyone takes the DOJ seriously any more.
• Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Ashcroft: 0
• Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Gonzales: 0
• Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Reno: at least 1
I think that most thinking people would put the number for Ashcroft and Gonzales in the hundreds or thousands. One can look at the high profile terror charges brought against civilians and military personnel and then dropped or thrown out by the court.
By the way, I am by no means a die-hard liberal and can honestly say I voted for Reagan (x2) but I am appalled at the cavalier attitude of Bush Jr. (and Cheney) towards civil rights and personal freedom. Being conservative does not equal being blind and brain dead.
No. “Oops” is right.
• Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Gonzales: 0
But the
• Number of obvious civil rights violations perpetrated by Gonzales: 10s of thousands.
Let’s give credit where credit is due…
Re: Breaking up Microsoft
“First off, the US economy would have taken a MAJOR hit”
That’s funny and sad. It’s also complete bullshit and FUD.
Your understanding of the U.S. economy is sorely lacking.
Did you go to college?
• Number of improper or illegal Justice Dept. actions remembered by Gonzales: 0
GONZALES: Well, Senator, putting aside the issue, of course, sometimes people’s recollections are different, I have no reason to doubt Mr. Battle’s testimony [about the November meeting].
SESSIONS: Well, I guess I’m concerned about your recollection, really, because it’s not that long ago. It was an important issue. And that’s troubling to me, I’ve got to tell you.
GONZALES: Senator, I went back and looked at my calendar for that week. I travelled to Mexico for the inauguration of the new president. We had National Meth Awareness Day. We were working on a very complicated issue relating to CFIUS.
GONZALES: And so there were a lot of other weighty issues and matters that I was dealing with that week.[
“Who brought up Janet Reno, you dolt?”
___________________________________
You did, when you brought Alberto Gonzales into the mix. Can’t handle the truth? Deal with it!
“So… you think because one criticizes the policies of the current administration, they must be proponents of former atty.’s general?”
______________
Yes! And there’s no use in denyin’ it, cuz I ain’t buyin’ it.
“hank you for demonstrating so nicely how fscking stupid you are. Nice to know you can count as high as 80. “
_________________
Well my goodness, but you are just too clever by half.
“Die in a hole, maggot.”
__________________
Now now, that is no way to talk to your mother. Her titties may have finally dried up, but I’m sure you can find nourishment elsewhere.
“Don’t you mean: number of 6-year-old boys returned to their parental home instead of being held hostage in a hostile country?”
_______________________
Uhhhhhh, NOPE! I tend to say *exactly* what I mean. That you would consider the U.S. a hostile country speaks volumes about the liberal mindset. That you would send storm troopers into the house of his relatives, kidnap him, and send him back to Castro’s paradise makes me want to puke. The boy’s mom risked and lost her life getting him here. Liberals get more and more disgusting by the day.
“Number of obvious civil rights violations perpetrated by Gonzales: 10s of thousands.”
___________________
Care to document this for us, hotshot?
Look folks, it’s trying to be witty.
@Ricky Bobby: You forgot to use “the Iraq” and “the such as” in your piece. We know you got it in ya….
“I think that most thinking people would put the number for Ashcroft and Gonzales in the hundreds or thousands. One can look at the high profile terror charges brought against civilians and military personnel and then dropped or thrown out by the court.”
________________
Let’s have a little proof, eh. And, uh, no, you can’t use liberal sources. No Katie Couric. No New York Times. No Daily Kos. Et cetera.
Good luck! Ready…..set…….go!
Oops is an idiot … lol
“Oops is an idiot”
That’s an understatement.
about Get Real’s comment: “The US is a free market country and not a socialist haven like the EU or Canada.”
More anti-global propaganda from the AENUS (Australia England ‘n US). Gee these sure hate diversity.
I think I will pass on the AENUS reality. Global truth is much more appealing.
WHY do so many MDN comment threads need to be junked up and ruined by all this liberal vs conservative crap?
No one cares what you think. No one. Any of you.
As they say, arguing on the internet is just like being in the Special Olympics. Whether you win or not, you’re still retarded.
@ Raymond from DC
“Were the Feds serious about weakening Microsoft’s hold it would have opened up its own procurement. But while Justice had them in court, they were mandating Windows and Office in their own contracts.”
Absolutely!
As per the FAR, there is required to be a signed “J&A” for that non-competitive requirement. MDN Readers should take this as their cue and submit formal FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests to receive a copy. Without a properly signed J&A, the Feds mandate of Office & Windows is illegal.
If the FOIA turns up empty, send the results to Apple’s legal department.