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Time for a Plot Twist (3/10/98)
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And the "Redmond Justice" wheel grinds on... Yesterday, Microsoft filed their final written arguments in their appeal to overturn Judge Jackson's preliminary injunction-- which prevents them from requiring that Wintel manufacturers ship Internet Explorer loaded on each and every Windows 95 system. Details are available in a Reuters article.
There's nothing particularly enlightening in the arguments, apparently. Microsoft continues to claim that the Justice Department's interpretation of the 1995 consent agreement (which Microsoft is accused of violating) "does not make sense." Furthermore, they claim that "no pro-competitive purpose would be served" by allowing manufacturers to ship systems without IE. (Personally, if we were considering writing a web browser for Windows, and found out that IE came preinstalled on all Windows 95 systems, we wouldn't bother-- how is that pro-competitive?) Microsoft wants the preliminary injunction overturned, and the DoJ's charges dismissed entirely.
Personally, we at AtAT are getting a little tired of this particular case; it's so limited in scope. Who cares whether Wintel manufacturers should be allowed to unbundle IE? Most of them probably don't want to. We hope the Justice Department is serious about waging full-scale antitrust battle against Microsoft before Windows 98 ships. It's not that we think it'll necessarily make a bit of difference in the end, but the ensuing courtroom drama would give us fresh episode material for years. Go on, guys-- sic 'em!
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SceneLink (524)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 3/10/98 episode: March 10, 1998: Someone squealed, and now everyone's talking about Apple's new information appliance. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs is ready for his close-up via satellite downlink and webcasts next week, and Microsoft continues to (yawn) argue that the DoJ is speaking nonsense...
Other scenes from that episode: 522: Cat Out of the Bag (3/10/98) Believe it or not, AtAT actually does have a few well-placed "sources" who occasionally choose to submit material for the show's scripts, purely on a freelance basis. Most of the time, we choose to defer talking about some of the dirt that gets dished because we consider the possibility of Apple losing a competitive edge if products are publicly discussed before Apple's ready... 523: Ready for Prime Time (3/10/98) Sorry as we are to have to miss next week's Seybold conference, our spirits are lifted slightly by the announcement that Steve Jobs' keynote will be broadcast via satellite downlink, both to your very own dish and to the Apple Offices in eight cities...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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