I must admit, Harvey, I'm a little disappointed by this one. Another annoyed Judge combined with another brilliant legal defense by Microsoft had the makings for months more entertainment while the federal case is in quiet mode.
Meanwhile, on another front, there's this:
Merger drops a bomb on Microsoft nytimes.com
Er, I think the bomb thing is a bit overstated.
By enlisting Time Warner's vast arsenal of assets, AOL has gained a commanding lead in the race to deliver content across an array of media. Analysts say the move may further weaken Microsoft's already-wavering commitment to content and hasten the company's to return to its software roots.
"AOL is a content company, and Microsoft is a software company," said Jon Puricelli, an analyst with A.G. Edwards. "This solidifies it. Microsoft shouldn't try to be a content company; these two companies shouldn't be competing in the least bit.
"Microsoft's content plays are too far afield from its core competency. They don't do it very well and don't know how to do it," he added.
What would "new media" guru Reggie say to that? Personally, calling AOL a content company before this seemed sort of a stretch. They had a lot of junk, I don't recall much of real interest. Of course, the "How High" whiners have some obscure analysis that plays this back into the federal case, I guess they don't believe Microsoft is a software company or something.
Cheers, Dan. |
