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Microsoft-Antitrust.gov Opens for Public 245

Posted by michael from the for-all-your-antitrust-needs dept.
prostoalex writes "The Attorney General of the State of California has opened up a Web site, dedicated to Microsoft antitrust violations. In 2002 Microsoft received 2 court judgements, one from California and 7 other states, another one from New York and nine other states. If you believe the company has violated the conditions stipulated in either of the statements, visit Microsoft-Antitrust.gov Web site. Notice that the site collects only the complaints related to two final judgements mentioned above."
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Microsoft-Antitrust.gov Opens for Public More

Microsoft-Antitrust.gov Opens for Public

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  • Great (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Em Emalb ( 452530 ) *
    f you believe the company has violated the conditions stipulated in either of the statements, visit Microsoft-Antitrust.gov Web site.

    Let the "fun" begin. Why do I think this webserver is going to become complaint central for all things MS?

    • Re:Great (Score:5, Funny)

      by TedCheshireAcad ( 311748 ) <ted AT fc DOT rit DOT edu> on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:58AM (#6941945) Homepage
      Good ol' Netcraft:

      The site www.microsoft-antitrust.gov is running Microsoft-IIS/5.0 on Windows 2000.

      • Re:Great (Score:3, Informative)

        by mobiGeek ( 201274 )
        Good ol' wget:

        bash> wget -Sv http://www.microsoft-antitrust.gov/
        --10:55:54-- http://www.microsoft-antitrust.gov/
        => `index.html'
        Resolving www.microsoft-antitrust.gov... done.
        Connecting to www.microsoft-antitrust.gov[167.10.5.164]:80... connected.
        HTTP request sent, awaiting response...
        1 HTTP/1.1 200 OK
        2 Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.0
        3 Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 14:48:59 GMT
        4 Connection: keep-alive
        5 Connection: Keep-Alive
        6 Content-Length: 9968
        7 Content-Type: text/html
        8 Set-Cookie: ASPSESSIONIDAQQRCB

    • As is clearly stated in the FAQ [microsoft-antitrust.gov]:

      Why can't I submit a complaint here about another problem I have with Microsoft?

      This website is intended only to address complaints related to enforcement of the California Group Final Judgment and New York Group Final Judgment. Any other complaints outside the scope of these documents cannot be addressed here. Instead, you should directly contact the state or government agency you believe has jurisdiction over your complaint. You may also contact more than one government

  • Clever plot (Score:5, Funny)

    by Boing ( 111813 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:03AM (#6941518)
    With what the /. effect is going to do to this site, I wouldn't be surprised if this link was posted by a Microsoft representative.

  • Oh the irony. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BWJones ( 18351 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:04AM (#6941529) Homepage Journal

    Well, looking at the site.....it appears it's running on.....wait for it......Windows 2000! Yeaaaaay. Oh, wait......

    Seriously though, what does that say about your position when you are adopting and running the product of which you are complaining about? Although, I suppose that might only back up their case.

    • Re:Oh the irony. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gowen ( 141411 ) <gwowen@gmail.com> on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:07AM (#6941555) Homepage Journal
      They're not complaining about the product. They're complaining about the company's leverage of their desktop OS near-monopoly to eliminate competition in other markets (web servers *NOT* among them).

      Fortunately, the CA attorney general understands the case better than the average "MS is bad" slash-drone.
      • They're not complaining about the product. They're complaining about the company's leverage of their desktop OS near-monopoly to eliminate competition in other markets (web servers *NOT* among them).

        Forgive me. I should have stated more clearly: they are running the product of the company whose business practices they are complaining about or serving as a source of information for those who are complaining about the companies practices? Sheesh, you guys are so literal. Although, I guess that is the m

      • But they *are* leveraging the server market. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Compact Dick ( 518888 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:19AM (#6941657) Homepage
        With Office 2003 and its Information Rights Management features, which rely on Windows 2003 Server to act as a secure repository for the authentication information.

      • Re:Oh the irony. (Score:3, Informative)

        by NightSpots ( 682462 )
        What's funny is this line:

        Fortunately, the CA attorney general understands the case better than the average "MS is bad" slash-drone.

        As a California resident, I can assure you that the California attorney general is interested in nothing more than pandering to special interests.

        Someone with enough money stepped forward to make this happen. I assume it was someone from either Sun or Oracle.

        Issues like the recent 'drivers license for anyone who has a piece of paper with a number on it'* bill show how lit

    • Re:Oh the irony. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by BoysDontCry ( 595839 )
      But they're not complaining about the product. They're complaining about the company that produces it. There's a difference.

    • Re:Oh the irony. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by qoncept ( 599709 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:09AM (#6941570) Homepage
      First, they aren't complaining about anything. The site is there to provide us with a medium to do so.

      Second, the point isn't to go complain about Microsoft's products. It's to complain about Microsoft's business products.

      • Re:Oh the irony. (Score:3, Informative)

        by gowen ( 141411 )
        First, they aren't complaining about anything.
        Well, they did. Thats how they got the settlement in the first place. The judgement is linked to from the website -- which is up so users can complaing about non-compliance with the judgement from the original complaint.

        Sheesh.

        (RIP Johnny Cash)
      • "It's to complain about Microsoft's business products."

        I'm sure by this you mean Microsoft's business practices.

    • Re:Oh the irony. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by slimak ( 593319 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:09AM (#6941571)
      its probably less ironic than it first seems since the people who are responsible for the lawsuit and the people who wrote the article and the people who maintain the server are most likely not the same.

      Consider how many negative Microsoft comments are made here on /. from Windows machines...thats what I consider ironic (but thats just me).
      • What irony?

        If I never had to use windows again, i'd sure complain about it less...

      • Re:Oh the irony. (Score:3, Informative)

        by HiThere ( 15173 ) *
        Until I used MSWindows, I thought MS was a decent company. The made the best word processor available for the Apple Mac. And I still think that MSWord 5.2a was the best word processor to exist. It's a high point that hasn't again been reached. This despite the fact that a few useful tools have been created since then (e.g., as-you-type spell checks. I note that others have listed this as an example of useless bloat, but I disagree.).

        Since I switched from the Mac to MSWindows, my opinion of MS has nose
        • Reports are sticky. I have used some web-based apps that use LaTeX templates to generate reports .. the server side makes it a PDF/PS file and pushes it to the client to print. However, still not as nice as an all inclusive package.

          There are a few options .. Kexi [automatix.de] is a KOffice database front end .. it appears to do tables, forms, reports, scripting, etc.. looks similar to Access. The first release, however, won't be out for one more month (atleast according to the website).

          TheKompany [thekompany.com] has a commercial

    • Re:Oh the irony. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jone1941 ( 516270 )
      Not only that, but when submitting a complaint they suggest that:

      If you are able to provide documentation to support your complaint, please attach the file in either Word (.doc) or WordPerfect (.wpd) format below.

      That just seems sad.
      • If you are able to provide documentation to support your complaint, please attach the file in either Word (.doc) or WordPerfect (.wpd) format below.

        That just seems sad.

        Not really -- Word has the greatest overall market share, and WordPerfect has the greatest market share among lawyers. Makes sense. (Of course, .txt format is more portable, but lacks bold and italics...)

      • Not only that, but when submitting a complaint they suggest that:

        If you are able to provide documentation to support your complaint, please attach the file in either Word (.doc) or WordPerfect (.wpd) format below.

        That just seems sad.

        That's not terribly hard to do. I can make a Word (.doc) format file from emacs, or even from edlin (remember that miserable monster from mickey-soft?).

        In emacs, do C-x C-f. Name the new file something like mycomplaint.doc. Type out your complaint, then hit C-X C-S.

    • Let's just wait for the anti-antitrust IIS patch next week.

  • redundant??! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:06AM (#6941539)
    The Attorney General of the State of California has opened up a Web site, dedicated to Microsoft antitrust violations.

    Isn't slashdot already the place for Microsoft hating and bashing?

    This site is redundant.

    • Re:redundant??! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:20AM (#6941665)
      I don't indulge in Microsoft hating and bashing. I suspect I am no different to many others using this forum who carefully weigh up the pros and cons of various software solutions, their relative strengths and weaknesses, the total cost of ownership of various platforms, the commitment of various software authors to innovation and forward thinking, the overall quality of a proposed direction, the opportunities and diffculties presented by the various software licensing mechanisms, and then, and only then, after weeks of careful consideration, conclude that, yes, Microsoft sucks, and it deserves everything it gets hurled at it.

    • Re:redundant??! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Tony-A ( 29931 )
      Isn't slashdot already the place for Microsoft hating and bashing?
      Slashdot is the place to keep up with the latest in Microsoft wormage. (At least that's what I tell management;)
      Slashdot seems to be the only source for unbiased technical information about Microsoft products. (I didn't say /. was unbiased. It's the only place you're likely to find any unbiased information.)

  • I wonder... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by delirium28 ( 641609 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:06AM (#6941540) Journal
    how long it will take before the site experiences a Slashdot effect.

    Seriously though, this is all well and good, but what's to stop users from logging onto the site and reporting violations out of spite? Do they really expect people to believe that they will examine every alleged violation, or is this simply a way for the government to pacify those that believe the judgement was too lienient?

    • you mean the slashdot effect of webservers melting? or the effect of hurds of ms haters bitching about ms?

      guess it doesn't matter.. the answer is "not very" for either

    • Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by clacour ( 621903 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @09:00AM (#6941965)
      Nothing will stop them; in fact, that one can complain anonymously will tend to encourage that.

      For precisely that reason, they won't investigate every complaint, or even a large fraction of them.

      Like all complaint-takers for decades (if not centuries) they will investigate things based on:

      Frequency of complaint

      Precision of complaint

      If 500 different people complain about the same thing, it's going to be taken more seriously than if one person does.

      A complaint like "Microsoft screwed me blind! I want you to GET those evil bastards!" will probably be handled by a spam filter.

      (Warning to those who are overly literal-minded: the following example is completely fictional!)

      A complaint like "On Friday, Jun 14th, Jahfhs Ffjl of the Microsoft Licensing group told me that I would have to pay full retail price for Windows XP Home, rather than the usual OEM price, because I sell a line of computers that run Linux," will be much more effective.

      Specific dates, names, statements, amounts, etc. will get far more attention than vague hate mail.

      Finally, whatever they think should be done will get choked back to what can be done, given their budget.

      End result: The most flagrant violations will get curbed quickly (or may never happen because they would have been caught so quickly).

      Borderline cases will break down into two groups:

      The ones Microsoft doesn't care about will get "cured", and used as public-relations fodder by MS.

      The ones Microsoft decidedly does not want to get stuck with will be challenged in court, or similar stalling tactics.

      In a few odd cases here and there, Microsoft will get their hand slapped and have to legitimately clean up their act some.

      Bottom line: As usual, it's between the two extremes mentioned. It will do some good, but there's a lot of stuff that will still fall through the cracks.

      My only complaint about it is that most of the good will come in the next year or two, and it will probably eat up money for then next couple of decades...

  • IE not required (Score:5, Funny)

    by xhawk ( 78101 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:06AM (#6941545)
    It's good to see there is no "Best viewed with Internet Explorer" at the bottom of the page. ;^)
    • Well, it's nice to see that it looks like they made at least some provisions for a non-IE brower. If you look at the source, it appears that they made some provisions for NS4 and CSS. So they get a few points up for this.

      However, I think that they loose many more points for complaining about the monopolistic practices of the company...then use said company's webserver to host the site.

  • Payment (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rf0 ( 159958 ) <rghf@fsck.me.uk> on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:10AM (#6941581) Homepage
    Well going from the Yahoo news article Microsoft has ended up paying to investigate itself :)

    "...and paid for with funds Microsoft provided to enforce a judgment ..."

    Rus

  • Slow day? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Omicron32 ( 646469 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:12AM (#6941598)
    30 comments and it's not even Slashdotted yet.

    I'm sorely dissapointed in you people.

  • was it just me... (Score:4, Funny)

    by loconet ( 415875 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:15AM (#6941621) Homepage
    or did anyone else read Microsoft-Antivirus.gov Opens for Public.

    I got really scared.

  • Top 10 Obligatory Responses to Microsoft News (Score:5, Funny)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:17AM (#6941642)
    10. FP, Overlords, Dead Stephen King, Goatse, beowulf cluster, and all the other cliche posts (get them out of the way now so we can move on)

    9. Discussion about whether or not the Borg icon applies to the story or not.

    8. Someone whines about Microsoft-bashing

    7. Someone whines about how bad Microsoft is.

    6. "If you use Linux, you won't have this problem"

    5. Something relating whatever the issue is to SCO.

    4. A post about the latest gaping hole in Windows security, likely to be fresh news to many since new hole reports are coming out very frequently now.

    3. A ton of complaints about the NYT's password-locked site, if the Microsoft story points there.

    2. Smirking Apple users.

    1. Something about *BSD being dead.

    • Re:Top 10 Obligatory Responses to Microsoft News (Score:5, Funny)

      by bl8n8r ( 649187 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:39AM (#6941794)
      This is just more Microsoft bashing, and I'm all for it. A whole site dedicated to Microsoft's mis-deeds -that's great. Microsoft should concentrate on making better software, and not money. God knows how busted-ass windows is. You cant use it for anything reliable, let alone a mail server, or beowulf cluster.

      I hope everyone realizes that if you run Linux, you wouldn't have any of these antitrust problems, or virus problems. Did anyone see the latest yesterday on 3 new vulnerabilities found in windows? I rest my case. You cannont *make* a secure windows box

      The microsoft-antitrust website looks pretty well laid-out, and doesn't require any registraion to get in - Unlike that stupid New York Times password-locked B.S. Ya know, something else I just noticed is I've never seen Apple in the news for antitrust issues. Now there's a company you can put some stock in!

      Speaking of stock, I think they should dedicate a web page on microsoft-antitrust.gov to the SCO debacle. These bastards are just pumping up the stock and dumping it and Microsoft is in on it. They need to account for their actions in the same way Enron has to, which, by the way, is going titsup just like BSD now that windriver is ditching it. Put two Borgs on this article - it deserves two.
    • Goatse

      Of all the things that get burned into the public consciousness, this is one of the few that did so literally.

  • I wonder (Score:4, Interesting)

    by fireboy1919 ( 257783 ) <(rustyp) (at) (freeshell.org)> on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:18AM (#6941655) Homepage Journal
    Microsoft is ordered to allow interoperability.

    Does this mean that they have to provide their Driver Development Kit, without which it is nearly impossible to write drivers for Windows, for free?

    • Re:I wonder (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Hayzeus ( 596826 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:27AM (#6941709) Homepage
      Technically, it is free, although they don't seem to offer it for download anymore and impose a completely bogus $15.00 s/h fee. Sucks, but you can probably scrape together the $15.00 if you want to do driver dev.
      • Does that mean that other people are allowed to offer them? Because I've never seen them anywhere. And it's not because I haven't looked.

    • Re:I wonder (Score:4, Interesting)

      by stephenry ( 648792 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:52AM (#6941875)
      "Microsoft is ordered to allow interoperability."

      They can't be doing a very good job since Microsoft has just decided to block all non-MS clients to their MSN network. To me, that classifies as interoperability.

      Besides, how can these judgements be even considered fitting when MS can simply purchase companies that offer non-strategically compatible protocols (a la the recent purchase of an Anti-virus company that developed software for Linux)

  • Their coders are busy now (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:19AM (#6941659)

    Expect a new security patch for IE shortly.

  • /.ing Netcraft.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:30AM (#6941732) Homepage Journal

    Some poor admin at Netcraft is 'tail -f'ing the logfile and thinking "Holy moly, Slashdot must have run a story on 'Microsoft-Antitrust.gov'.."
    • dustin2wti:~ 503% telnet www.microsoft-antitrust.gov 80
      Trying 167.10.5.164...
      Connected to www.microsoft-antitrust.gov.
      Escape character is '^]'.
      HEAD / HTTP/1.0

      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
      Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.0
      Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 16:33:20 GMT
      Connection: Keep-Alive
      Content-Length: 9967
      Content-Type: text/html
      Set-Cookie: ASPSESSIONIDSCQTCCQR=IKALKJLDHBPCPBAGBGIOLCDP; path=/
      Cache-control: private

      There were days when you could find out what a site was running without Netcraft. :)

      But seriously, though, why is this IIS?

  • Complaint form's final (upload) field... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rklrkl ( 554527 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:37AM (#6941775) Homepage
    Yes, not only is the site running IIS on W2K, but the final (upload) field on the complaint form [microsoft-antitrust.gov] is most amusing.

    Whilst the prior three fields give you 8K of plain text which to fill in, the final field only lets you upload in one of two proprietary closed-source word processor document formats (one of which is ironically Microsoft's) - nope, you're not allowed to upload SXW format (Open Office), plain text or even PDF files ! Also note that you're allowed a 1000K upload too, thanks to the bloatedness of the two formats they do allow...

    • That seems rather silly. text and pdf seem quite legitimate choices. text should always be allowed.

      And since OOo can export in *.doc format, it doesn't even exclude anyone. It's just silly.

    • Which should make for one very easy to sustain complaint against Microsoft. Unfortunatly, I don't think it falls under the two rulings: Tie in through MS office formats. Oh well...

  • I bet... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Mocenigo ( 534548 )
    I bet Microsoft will also dislike California, now ;)
    Isn't this web site "unfair"?
  • CTRL-D to bookmark, folks! Woot!

  • On to more relevant things (Score:5, Insightful)

    by brsmith4 ( 567390 ) <{brsmith4} {at} {gmail.com}> on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:48AM (#6941844)
    After sifting and sorting through the myriad of posts pointing out that this site is running IIS 5 and how the govt. is so hypocritical for doing so, I've come to the conclusion that some if not most slashdotter's are too riled by minor details. It conveys a serious lack of intelligence on our part. But I digress...

    While going through some of the PDF docs on the site, mostly pertaining to court judgements, I noticed that many of these documents reference the Sherman Anti-trust Act.

    2 Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. 2

    Monopolizing trade a felony; penalty

    Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $10,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $350,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding three years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court

    For those that don't know, this is Section 2 of the Sherman act, which Microsoft was found in violation of. I see the fine of $10,000,000 as a maximum to be completely impotent against a company with a financial foundation such as microsoft's. There should be some sort of percentage of profits reaped from the anti-competitive behavior that should be taken away. $10,000,000 is a drop in the bucket for microsoft. The penalty should be stiffer.

    I'd be interested in filing a complaint regarding their procedures regarding the computer sales market, how pretty much all PCs come with their product and their "tax" regardless of whether or not you want it. THAT is a complaint worth filing. I am being FORCED to pay for a PRODUCT that I NEVER asked for nor implied that I wanted.
    • I'd be interested in filing a complaint regarding their procedures ... I am being FORCED to pay for a PRODUCT that I NEVER asked for nor implied that I wanted.

      Hmmm. I skimmed through the Orders. There was something there about OEM discounts not being dependent on percentages of machines shipped with Windows. So if you are still being forced to pay the MS tax then make a complaint.

      Paul.

    • Ehm no. You are not being forced to pay the "microsoft tax". This is not unlike me complaining about the "tomato tax" at Burger King. The tomatoes they include are disgusting and I always make it a point to remove it. Nonetheless even when I instruct them with the order not to include the tomato they still charge me for it. Nonetheless any complaint on my ground is baseless. I am not being forced to buy their hamburgers. No not even when they are the only store open late at night at the train station. Their
      • Actually, that's not quite right, the tomato analogy.

        It works if modified thusly: Burger King sells you a Burger with Tomato(es) on it, and their license for you to consume the burger includes provisions for returning the tomoato(es) if you find it disgusting, or if you don't agree to their license terms for consuming the tomato(es) (perhaps the license requires you to stand in your boxers at the exit and sing the "Burger King's Tomatoes are yummy!" song). Since you find it disgusting, you choose to retu

  • MSN/Windows Messenger (Score:3, Interesting)

    by R0 ( 40549 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:53AM (#6941886)
    Is preinstalling MSN/Windows Messenger in windows illegal? And is it relevent to the judgements?

  • 'Microsoft' and 'Opens' and 'Public' (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:53AM (#6941890)
    Never use the words 'Microsoft' 'Opens' and 'Public' in a headline ever again. It's very deceiving.

    My brain can't handle it. I spittaked my coffee all over my keyboard.

  • Microsoft don't eat their own dog food. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by pubjames ( 468013 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:56AM (#6941918)

    I just found this very entertaining table on Netcraft:

    http://www.atrc.net.pk/news/microsoft_london_lin ux _hosted.html

    It shows that Microsoft use Linux to deliver their web site content to Europe.

    If there was ever a good way to convince your PHB that Linux is a capable system, this must be it. Email that link to your PHB today!
    • Well actually akamai uses linux not microsoft. Microsoft has just hired a company to "host" some of their stuff and that company uses linux. Akamai provides web hosting to big companies.

      So why does MS use them? Well with the latest worm posed to attack an MS site MS decided to not risk this site going down and instead hired this company to provide caching/mirroring/proxy in such abundance that the worm couldn't possibly take the site down.

      So yes it is kinda funny that MS faced with an attack caused by a b

  • Left them a comment... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rongage ( 237813 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @08:58AM (#6941935)

    If you go to http://www.microsoft-antitrust.gov/contactus.asp [microsoft-antitrust.gov] you will find that they have a nice little web form for commentary to them.

    For example, my comment to them...

    It's pretty darned ironic that your department has chosen to host a website on Microsoft Windows 2000 and Internet Information Services. Was this a deliberate choice on your part to help demonstrate the monopoly power of Microsoft, or did you genuinely no know that you had several no-cost (acquisition wise) choices available to you?

  • End of life issues (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jwjcmw ( 552089 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @09:18AM (#6942123)
    My company develops windows applications, and one thing we are running into is the end of life issues.

    Right now NT4 has reached the end of its support, and will be end-of-life next June. There are still many corporate environments where NT4 is the norm, and many of them aren't going to be changing anytime soon. This makes it hard for a developer who wants to create a product that works on NT4 through XP, as there is little or no support for adding or changing the NT4 platform at MS. However, it is not a problem for MS, since if they have any problems with an application (Word, Excel, IE, etc) not working on NT4, they have the ability to ship a change to the operating system with the update to the application(probably even after the "end-of-life"). This makes it hard for developers who have to say, yes you can use our product, but you have to upgrade to a later version of Windows, where MS can just say go ahead and buy this product now...you can upgrade the operating system when you are ready. This drives more of the application use on these older systems to only using MS products.

    I wonder if that aspect has ever been discussed in any of the anti-trust proceedings.

  • Windows Critical Update Notification (Score:5, Funny)

    by Xaroth ( 67516 ) on Friday September 12, 2003 @09:29AM (#6942223) Homepage
    Security Update for Microsoft Windows(KB1337N008)
    Download size: 1 KB, < 1 minute
    A security issue has been identified in Microsoft Windows that could allow an end-user to see information detrimental to the Microsoft Empire(tm) by allowing the user to visit certain anti-Microsoft government sites. You can help protect Microsoft by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. Read more... [microsoft-antitrust.gov]

  • Oh The Irony (Score:5, Funny)

    by xanadu-xtroot.com ( 450073 ) <(moc.tibroni) (ta) (udanax)> on Friday September 12, 2003 @09:34AM (#6942262) Homepage Journal
    Sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh. [netcraft.com]

  • PCs-Windows? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Jedi1USA ( 145452 )
    So is this where I go to complain if a computer manufacturer refuses to sell me a computer without MS Windows installed, or no discount on same computer without Windows? How about enforcing refunds if the terms of the EULA are not acceptable?

    Just a few thoughts.


  • Here is the Federal Version

    http://thetc.org/ [thetc.org]


  • Has anyone else noticed the .gov namespace being used for stranger and stranger things? Some politicians have even been using .gov for their campaign messages and such (used to be www.flattax.gov, but that's 403'd).

    Doesn't it seem like this should be like.. microsoft-antitrust.gov.ca.us or something?
  • Well, they like Microsoft enough, from netcraft:

    Windows 2000 Microsoft-IIS/5.0 12-Sep-2003 167.10.5.164 California Department of Justice

    http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=www.mi cr osoft-antitrust.gov
  • ... that Slashdot was changing its name?
  • I was recently trying to read an NTFS partition from one of my other machines and learned that NTFS support on Linux and Mac OS X is quite poor, because Microsoft has never published any documentation. I'm impressed that people have reverse-engineered as much as they have, but it sounds like getting robust write-access to an NTFS volume is still a pipe dream.

    Is Microsoft violating their antitrust settlement by not providing complete NTFS documentation? Or is there some loophole?

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