Yesterday's big decisions came as no surprise
SeattlePI | at | by Mike
Two big business stories with more than a little local fascination broke yesterday, from seemingly disparate industries, on different coasts, in different forums. Yet they shared two common elements. Both had to do with technology. And both were cases of official ratification of what, in the real world, are foregone conclusions.
Yesterday a federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued a ruling in the Microsoft antitrust case, almost completely upholding a settlement worked out between the Redmond software company, the U.S. Justice Department and nine states. In doing so she rejected the arguments from nine other states that Microsoft should be subject to much more stringent penalties than the settlement provides. She sided with the dissenting states only on the matter of how and by whom Microsoft's compliance with her ruling will be monitored.