Microsoft case mirrors IBM's history usatoday.com
The effect on IBM ran deep. In 1968, the fear of impending antitrust action forced IBM to abandon one of its dearest practices - the one most devastating to rivals. It was a practice that runs to the heart of Justice concerns about Microsoft: bundling.Until 1968, IBM was a one-stop shop. Customers bought a system from IBM and included in the price was software, peripherals and maintenance. Customers generally liked it that way - an argument Microsoft makes today about bundling lots of different functions, including the Internet Explorer browser, into Microsoft's Windows operating system.
But Microsoft is so unique! It's a totally new industry! It's unlike anything that came before!
Watson, who died in 1993, became angry and obsessed with beating Justice. ''My own private impulse,'' he wrote, ''was to forget the niceties and fight like hell to protect IBM. It was like some primitive instinct - as though (Attorney General) Ramsey Clark were threatening my child.''
Gates shows signs of being similarly obsessed. He made caustic remarks about Attorney General Janet Reno. Last week, he angrily told reporters: ''What you have here is, basically, the U.S. government saying our products are too capable.''
Whatever. Maybe Bill just needs to call Janet Reno up and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" to her.
Cheers, Dan. |
