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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (4987)	2/5/1998 6:13:00 PM
From: Larry Sullivan	Respond to of 74651

mindmeld, X-Ray Man and thread... I keep seeing some misunderstanding about what the OEM's have said and what either the press reports or how people are understanding it. From all the reports and even from the DOJ site and others it appears that Microsoft only stipulated that Internet Explorer (IE) could not be removed. It appears from all resources that Microsoft fully allows OEM's to add what ever software the OEM wants to include. Take a look at many computer companies sites like Compaq or Micron. So I think the argument really becomes can Microsoft state what functionality makes up its operating system and for me the answer should be yes. X-Ray Man you state : b) Specific to the current suit, it is the violation of the agreement MSFT made with DOJ that is being prosecuted, not an anti-trust legal principle. Perhaps if MSFT had not agreed to the stipulation in the first place, DOJ would not have any case. But there is the clause in the Final Judgement Consent Decree (on the DOJ website) that does grant Microsoft the ability to produce "integrated products" that seems to beg the question that this left Microsoft with the ability to improve their products by integrating the functionality of one product into another. The first example of this was probably Windows 95 itself which was an integration of two products MS-DOS and Windows into one product Windows 95. Now we have functionality that appears to some to look like two products but which Microsoft is definitly making a single product and it appears that the Consent Decree supports this development. Larry...