Microsoft will have to put up with another two years of court antitrust oversight, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. In her ruling, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly cited the length of time it has taken Microsoft to get its protocol licensing program up and running as the primary reason she is extending the consent decree, which was due to expire at the end of last year.
If they can’t implement rulings properly, they need to get their arses kicked some more, as we say in Ireland. 😉
IMO, it should be standard procedure to protect competition and “We, The Poeple” by putting a watchdog on any company declared to be a monopoly. I don’t care if it is Microsoft and operating systems, or Acme, Inc. and widgets. The business instincts which make for a healthy and successful “regular” company become dangerous to free competition and the common good when practiced by a player with the advantages and power of a monopoly position. The terms of the decree seem fair and reasonable to me, and should apply as long as Microsoft holds its monopoly position in that industry.
At any rate, it’s nice to see that Microsoft’s foot dragging regarding compliance didn’t help them any.
Edited 2008-01-30 12:14 UTC
Absolutely in agreement with you on that one, and I doubt it could have been said better.
Personally, I feel that large scale corporate entities should be discouraged, full stop, in favor of more smaller companies, thereby evening out the playing field and preemptively dealing with potential monopoly situations.
Just my two cent.
Waaah Waah.
You shouldn’t punish a company for success!
Waah! Waah!
Success at what?
A great OS, or great at strongarming?
That’s all I want to know.