>"Internet Explorer Plus" for only $19.95
Norm, do you think even for a moment that Microsoft's legal deaprtment has not cleared the sale of this product?
Do you really think that, at Microsoft, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing? Well, on second thought, don't answer that! ;)
>It
>would seem easy enough to prove that IE is indeed a separate product when it is
>possible to walk into a store and purchase both Windows95 and IE as separate
>products.
The marketplace definitely perceives IE and Windows as separate products. But I don't think that's the whole story, or even relevant. If it were the whole story, I don't think Microsoft would be behaving in the way it is.
I am convinced that, at least in this instance, Microsoft is well aware of what it is doing. This is not a case of two different PR guys not getting their stories straight in response to some breaking news item. This is a marketing strategy they have consciously chosen to adopt in the face of the DOJ action. They have known for some time what the Consent Decree says and probably that DOJ would be bringing the petition. Yet, they have chosen to sell IE as a separate product anyway.
The more interesting question is, given that Microsoft is being sued by DOJ for forcing OEMs to take the IE product if they want Windows, why are they choosing to market IE in this manner at this time?
I don't think it's purely arrogance (though with Microsoft, you never know). I think they think the Consent Decree does not apply to Internet Explorer.
>What Microsoft did and said yesterday is not consistent to what has been
>going on today. Eventually the glove will fit O.J.
I can't speak for O.J., but I think what Microsoft is saying and doing today is very consistent with what they did yesterday. Microsoft obvioulsy knew at the time it agreed to the Consent Decree that it would be putting together a thing called "Internet Explorer." I would guess that they knew that, in order to beat Netscape, they would have to give it away for free and bundle it somehow with Windows. I cannot imagine that they would have agreed to the Consent Decree if it put a spike through their most important product strategy. I would guess the DOJ knew some of this, too. How much will probably come out in discovery.
The big question is: What did the parties intend vis a' vis Internet Explorer when they came up with the phrases "other product" and "integrated product" within the meaning of the Decree? |
