That is some theory. But I want to explore another angle. In Be's lawsuit against MSFT, Be claims that
Microsoft’s Interference With Be’s Financing Efforts
54. Microsoft not only closed off critical distribution channels for Be’s products, it
also impeded Be’s ability to finance its business. Microsoft, in conjunction with third parties
acting as its agents, succeeded both in artificially depressing the price at which Be was able to
sell its initial IPO shares and in preventing Be from engaging in a post-IPO effort to raise
investment capital through a private placement offering.
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This is an unbelievable allegation. MSFT actually using agents to depress stock prices. If true then "With MSFT, all things are possible."
Incidentally, the Be lawsuit is a very easy and good read as it focuses clearly on MSFT's practices.
beincorporated.com
And for Sun investors, here is more from the lawsuit
The Java Experience
46. In one example of the “embrace, extend, extinguish” strategy, Microsoft
developed its own version of the Java Virtual Machine (“JVM”) to run applications written in
Sun’s cross-platform programming language on Windows. Microsoft also developed a suite of
programming tools to allow Windows-based developers easily to write Java Applications.
Microsoft did not disclose, however, that its Java programming tools by default produced Java
applications that would only run on its own JVM for Windows, and not on JVMs designed for
other operating systems on other platforms.
47. Similarly, Microsoft publicly embraced the public standard HTML format for
Internet content delivered over the World Wide Web. But in fact, Microsoft designed its HTML
development tools to produce web pages that often could be viewed correctly only on
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser for Windows.
48. Largely as a result of Microsoft’s pollution of the Java and HTML standards, the
Internet browser has failed to develop into a viable platform for consistently delivering high-quality
applications and content on a variety of operating systems and hardware platforms.
Consequently, the Internet appliance market failed to develop into a viable substitute for
Windows-based Intel-compatible PCs, and has since been abandoned by virtually all major
computer hardware manufacturers. All of Be’s efforts to promote BeOS in this market have been
frustrated as a result. |
