This article from CNBC/WSJ (via msnbc) seems to imply that at least some influential companies are preparing for the eventuality that they will not be afforded any government protection by virtue of the CA order:
That might be a stretch, but the article is informative, also:
Savvy tech entrepreneurs stay out of Microsoft’s way
A surprisingly large group of entrepreneurs say they
don’t want court-ordered protection from Bill Gates & Co.
By Nick Wingfield
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 2 — Who’s afraid of Microsoft Corp.? Not us, say many of today’s new crop of technology entrepreneurs.
THE SOFTWARE COLOSSUS from Redmond, Wash., inspires dread across much of the high-tech industry, some of whose biggest companies have been key behind-the-scenes advocates in the government’s antitrust case against it. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)
But a surprisingly large group of entrepreneurs, including some of Microsoft’s most vocal critics, say they either don’t want or don’t need any court-ordered protection from Bill Gates & Co. Instead, they have come up with their own ways to keep what they see as the wolf from the door.
Some have deliberately picked markets they think Microsoft will deem too small to enter. But what’s too small for a megacompany like Microsoft can be a huge and teeming opportunity for a start-up.
Others compete head on with Microsoft, but look for allies among established companies that are Microsoft’s size yet have their own reasons to fear it.
Another group is trying to change the basic ground rules of the computing world. Among these are advocates of “open source” computing, which offers high-quality, free software like the Linux operating system to compete with Microsoft’s for-pay programs.
These entrepreneurs paint a picture of a technology marketplace in which competition is alive and well and where innovation is flourishing. And many claim Microsoft is growing bloated and sluggish, and thus increasingly less effective in new and emerging markets. That is rather different from the view presented by the government in its antitrust case, which portrayed Microsoft as an oppressive, innovation-smothering juggernaut that must be broken up.
Last week, a federal appeals court agreed with some of the government’s claims but threw out the controversial breakup order handed down by a district court. The lower court was instructed to come up with a new remedy.
“We believe we can win in the market of ideas rather than in the courts,” says Nat Friedman, co-founder of Ximian Inc., a Boston-based company that is developing a suite of Linux-based products to compete with Microsoft’s applications software.
Of course, those who say they can prosper in spite of Microsoft may be engaged in wishful thinking. Microsoft remains a fearsome presence in the high-tech industry. Its $30 billion cash hoard gives it resources that most other companies can only dream about. It can use those resources for forays into new markets — like the way its upcoming Windows XP operating system will help it in areas like digital photography. It can also finance wave after wave of improvements to its products, outlasting competitors and eventually triumphing.
But even with those assets, Microsoft has stumbled. It has famously failed to catch up with the America Online service of AOL Time Warner Inc., though it has gained some ground recently with MSN, and has never taken a run at such other Internet stalwarts as eBay Inc.
Years ago, Microsoft failed to dislodge Intuit Inc.’s Quicken as a personal-finance standard. Today, the hand-held devices from Palm Inc. continue to hold their own against those using Microsoft’s Palm PC software. And many see Microsoft lagging behind in the battle for a new generation of cable-TV set-top boxes behind such companies as Liberate Technologies Inc.
All of which heartens Microsoft competitors, which say they can triumph as long as they choose their battles carefully — such as by flying under Microsoft’s radar with a product the company might consider peripheral to its business.
That’s part of the thinking of Zodiac Networks Inc., which is developing a new kind of networking system to handle multimedia and other large computer files. It is an area that, until now at least, Microsoft hasn’t expressed much interest in. The chief executive of the Mountain View, Calif., start-up, Mike Homer, has had considerable experience competing with Microsoft: He was a top executive at Netscape Communications, the Web ...
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