MSFT softens, part IV
It's an argument far more likely to resonate with the public than points of contracts
or licensing that restrict mention of Microsoft competitors. And Microsoft officials
are already using it to justify much of what they are doing with Windows.
Herbold, for example, used that argument to proclaim Microsoft's right to control
the appearance of the initial display on PCs using Windows. If users were to turn on
the PC and see a screen designed by the computer manufacturer rather than
Microsoft, ''they're going to be potentially feeling like they got cheated. . . . We
have that right to say, hey, we're here.''
Opponents say Microsoft still engages in plenty of practices that are not so easily
defended.
Adding NetShow
For example, the company is adding NetShow, a player for viewing streaming audio
and video via the Internet, into a future version of Windows -- a move that may
stymie competition in the market for those players. And the company has begun
giving customers discounts on Windows 98 if they buy a palmtop computer that
uses Windows CE, Microsoft's stripped-down operating system. That's a tactic
that puts Palm Computing, whose Pilot competes with CE palmtops, at a
disadvantage.
Gary Reback, a partner with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a Palo Alto law
firm that represents Netscape, believes Microsoft's recent concessions serve to
deflect attention from other areas where Microsoft is crossing the line. ''They want
you to focus on (the concessions dealing with browsers), and they're going to go off
and kill the next round of technology, which will be dead before you even knew they
could come into existence.''
Microsoft officials deny that. But they also pledge that they won't make more
changes that could be labeled ''concessions'' -- at least for now.
''As we sit here, the answer is no, but you shouldn't view that as a decision forever
in time,'' Herbold said. |
