Few months back Microsoft has published this Open Letter about Sun and Java. I thought it might me interesting to post a link to it since the recent Sun lawsuit.
Sun Microsystems has invested a great deal of their marketing dollars and lobbying efforts in attacking our yet-to-be released Windows XP operating system, claiming that Microsoft has hurt Sun, the Java language and PC industry customers at large by not including the Microsoft virtual machine in Windows XP. Sun Microsystems has taken every step possible to prevent Microsoft from shipping our award winning Java virtual machine. In fact, Sun resorted to litigation to stop Microsoft from shipping a high performance Java virtual machine that took optimal advantage of Windows. The settlement agreement provides for a termination of Microsoft's existing license with Sun and phase-out of the Microsoft VM, so Sun's professed surprise is mere spin. It should be noted that, since the settlement, a Federal Appeals Court has upheld Microsoft's development of a high-performance, well-integrated virtual machine for Windows as pro-competitive.
Great news for all Microsoftonians, it looks like the U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly understands Microsoft point of view. The Settlement might be approved!
The judge overseeing the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case on Friday expressed misgivings about the breadth of demands by states seeking harsher sanctions against the software giant as she gave the company an extra week to prepare for hearings.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she had "concerns" about the states' argument that the sanctions should be designed to protect PC-related devices and services, such as computer servers, hand-held organizers, Web services and TV set-top boxes, from Microsoft Corp.'s monopoly power.
"I have some concerns about your argument," Kollar-Kotelly told Steven Kuney, an attorney representing the states. "I think there is an argument that this is outside (the scope of the case)."
An apparent misinterpretation of information on a Microsoft Japan Web site resulted today in a media report of a recall of Microsoft's XboxT game console in Japan. This report is incorrect. There is no recall of Xbox in Japan or any other market.
The Xbox Japan Web site did report that Microsoft Customer Care Japan had received a small number of inquires (significantly less than one percent of systems sold) from customers reporting small scratches to the outside edge of some game disks after use in the Xbox game consoles. While this is not a common occurrence, and minor scratching is primarily a cosmetic issue that does not affect performance, a positive customer experience is of the utmost importance to Microsoft. Xbox Japan responded accordingly in its statement offering to evaluate any Xbox system that a customer is concerned about. If a system needs to be repaired or replaced for any reason, Microsoft will do this immediately.
Anyone seen that one coming! What a bunch of whinnies, losers, and idiots!!! I think Sun, AOL and Palm know that they lost the Microsoft antitrust case, which looks like the settlement with U.S. DOJ will be approved. So that the losers do? They invent not new product, but rather, invent new lawsuit, so predictable.
Sun Microsystems Inc. on Friday said it filed a private antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp. in United States District Court in San Jose, California seeking damages for harm it claims was done to its business. Sun said that the complaint alleges that Microsoft has engaged in anti-competitive conduct and stems in part from the software company's decision to ship its new Windows XP operating system without any support for Sun's Java software. Sun also called for Microsoft to disclose and license the computing protocols and formats related to products such as Internet Explorer, which is used by consumers to access the Internet.
A federal judge said on Friday she will grant Microsoft Corp. a one-week delay in the start of hearings, originally due to begin next week, on antitrust sanctions that a group of states is seeking against the software giant. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said at a court hearing that Microsoft should get the extra time to study last-minute changes to the sanctions proposed by the nine states that have rejected a settlement of the case. "There are some significant changes," the judge said.
The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, or OASIS, said Thursday that it has formed a technical committee to develop an XML standard for biometrics. XML, short for Extensible Markup Language, describes the contents of documents exchanged over the Web. The field of biometrics puts computing hardware and software to the task of reading various parts of the human body, from fingerprints to the contours of a face, as a means of identifying people--whether to authorize access to bank accounts and airport terminals or to pick criminals out of a crowd.
At the conclusion of a daylong hearing here, Judge Colleen Kollar- Kotelly of Federal District Court said the case's many complexities required her to spend time examining all the issues and that her decision would not be imminent.
"It's an important and complex case to which I am going to give careful and thoughtful attention before I render my decision," she said. "There's a lot to digest."
But her questions mostly involved relatively minor aspects of the settlement, and the fact that she did not ask a single question of any of the lawyers opposed to the deal seemed to suggest that she would ultimately approve it. The deal was reached only after she had ordered the lawyers to engage in mediation.
While Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly did nothing to betray how she might decide with regards to the Microsoft/US Department of Justice (DOJ) settlement, she did ask attorneys representing both parties some pointed questions about the deal during the opening day of hearings Wednesday. Operating under the requirements of a 1974 federal law, Kollar-Kotelly will decide whether the settlement is in the public interest and, if so, the agreement will be ratified and Microsoft officials will sign a consent decree. However, if the judge throws out the settlement, Microsoft's four year old antitrust case will stretch out for months more, and the company has vowed to appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Lawyers for Microsoft Corp. and the U.S. Justice Department told a federal judge on Wednesday their proposed antitrust settlement was better than what could be achieved by further litigation and urged its quick approval. Microsoft and the federal government, former adversaries in the nearly four-year-old case, sought to persuade Kollar-Kotelly that their settlement is the best deal for consumers and companies trying to compete with Microsoft.
The settlement terms "go beyond those that we would likely have obtained had we litigated," Justice Department attorney Philip Beck said. He urged Kollar-Kotelly to quickly approve the settlement. Waiting until the end of the separate hearings on the non-settling states' demands would be a prescription for "potentially inordinate delays," Beck said.
A lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department said the antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O should cease, telling a federal judge on Wednesday that the proposed settlement went beyond what could probably be achieved by further litigation. Attorneys for Microsoft and the federal government are seeking to persuade U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that their settlement is in the public interest despite objections from nine states seeking harsher sanctions. The settlement terms "go beyond those that we would likely have obtained had we litigated," said Justice Department attorney Philip Beck of the nearly four-year-old case.