Microsoft reached an undisclosed settlement in a lawsuit claiming it used its monopoly position to overcharge Iowa consumers for software products including Windows and Word. Microsoft reached the deal with a statewide class of consumers who had purchased Microsoft products since 1994. The plaintiffs claimed the company violated Iowa antitrust law to charge inflated prices by taking advantage of its monopolies in personal computer operating systems and software applications.
Does anything ever go to court these days without being settled? Argh..! the curious little bastard in me wants to know how much it pays to sue…
My guess.. they sure got free copies of Windows Vista Ultimate!
Unless Microsoft is paying CASH, then they win. Any settlement where they have to “give” versions of their operating system anyone is a win for them. Why? Because it still stops other operating systems from getting in, and it still maintains Microsoft market share. So they win.
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A real punishment would be for Microsoft to have to hand out copies of a rival operating system, but that’s never going to happen. So unless Microsoft pays cash, and pays a LOT of cash, they’ve won, and the justice system has yet again shown itself to be totally ineffective in dealing with criminal organizations like Microsoft.
Criminal organizations like Microsoft?? Some people live in a strange world.
They may be aggressive deal-makers and perhaps have tried to dominate markets (as any firm does), but calling them a criminal organization is a bit of a stretch. You could also see the Iowan government as a bunch of freeloaders who are just out to make a quick buck off of a rich corporation. Microsoft settles because it isn’t worth fighting and Iowa takes what they can get because they weren’t in it for an ideological or moral reason anyway… just for the money.
But Microsoft ripped them off in the first place why wouldn’t they be in it for the money?
If someone ripped me off I would want my money back in court for sure and my court costs.
Edit: Typo
Edited 2007-02-15 10:40
Enlighten yourself and read the actual transcript from the original DOJ case against Microsoft. After reading that come back and say that they never did anything criminal. (Isn’t that what mobsters/mafia did in early days, waste the competition through non-market tactics?)
The problem isn’t just MS though, seems all “large” enterprises often do the same thing. The problem is that the courts can be used as a tool to do many of these tactics. What percentage of cases never go to the jury, or are “settled”, or dragged out so one party can’t sustain the battle?
Paying out even hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure you maintain almost complete market share is something any company would jump at it.
Enlighten yourself and read the actual transcript from the original DOJ case against Microsoft. After reading that come back and say that they never did anything criminal.
Geezus, are people really that dumb? The Sherman Act governs civil matters — not criminal. It isn’t a crime to violate Sherman. Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
driftwolf: So unless Microsoft pays cash, and pays a LOT of cash, they’ve won, and the justice system has yet again shown itself to be totally ineffective in dealing with criminal organizations like Microsoft.
While i agree that the plaintiffs are plain stupid if they accept vouchers for new software, you can hardly blame the “justice system” for the parties coming to an agreement. You can only blame the law for providing a rule that allows free individuals to come to agreements that they like, provided they don’t violate law. I doubt, you want a judiciary system that takes your rights to make decisions away, do you?
Anyway, a judge has to approve the settlement because the matter already progressed to court and the judge’s decision is expected in April (cf. TFA), thus this reporting is a little premature and your accussation is, for now, unfounded.
Once and for all: Violating the Sherman Act isn’t criminal! It’s a civil matter — subject to judgements and fines. So, all of you calling Microsoft’s actions “criminal” are full of crap.