Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David M. Lomow who wrote (15929)	7/23/1998 12:06:00 PM
From: WebDrone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213177

Ask and you shall receive! I'm going to cut out big chunks of this article, and tell you that I think the WSJ on-line has some real nice features. It's a lot easier to read teh PAPER, but I hate taking the old ones to the curb! <July 23, 1998 U.S. Is Probing Microsoft's Role In Multimedia-Software Market> <By JOHN R. WILKE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL> <...><Investigators are examining whether Microsoft tried to persuade Apple Computer Inc. to stay out of the broad consumer market for multimedia software. That echoes a charge in the government's pending lawsuit against Microsoft that it tried to carve up the Internet-browser market with Netscape Communications Corp. That case goes to trial Sept. 8. The Justice Department is studying information obtained from Apple indicating that Microsoft executives proposed three times -- most recently in March -- that Apple retreat from its plans for the Windows multimedia market and leave that field to Microsoft, in exchange for an endorsement of Apple software tools, the lawyers and executives said. Apple rejected the proposal, these people said. Also under scrutiny is whether onscreen error messages or other technical incompatibilities in Microsoft's Windows or browser software were intended to thwart Apple and other rivals; whether Microsoft pressured major personal-computer makers to drop Apple's video software; and whether agreements the company has struck with video-programming providers were exclusionary, the lawyers and executives close to the case said. 'Reality of the Industry' A Microsoft spokesman rejected the charges. "Microsoft has had ongoing conversations with Apple about ways to make our multimedia-software products more compatible for consumers, even as we continue to compete against each other," he said. "Any suggestion that Microsoft has tried to divide any market is completely false and probably reflects a lack of understanding of how the software industry works," the spokesman said. "The reality of the industry is that many companies compete vigorously against each other but also cooperate in a variety of ways." This "is good for consumers because it makes products compatible and accelerates the development of new technology," he said. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment; a Justice Department spokeswoman also declined to comment Wednesday. Apple has been subpoenaed by the Justice Department, people close to the case said. But the probe poses a predicament for Apple: Its interim chief executive, Steve Jobs, has sought a closer relationship with Microsoft and last year formed a partnership in which Microsoft took a $150 million nonvoting stake in Apple and paid an estimated $100 million more for access to its patents.> <Behavior Toward RealNetworks The Justice Department also is investigating Microsoft's behavior toward RealNetworks Inc., the leader in a key multimedia-software technology known as video streaming. The company last fall was ordered by investigators to provide documents and was visited most recently by a Justice Department team "four or five weeks ago," said its president, Bruce Jacobsen.> < Mr. Glaser is expected to disclose that Microsoft's dominant Windows and Internet software are designed to disable competing software offered by RealNetworks. A Microsoft spokesman said that technical incompatibilities are common in fast-changing technology as companies innovate in different directions, and don't represent an attempt to create barriers to competition. He also denied any effort to pressure computer makers to drop Apple's QuickTime. PC makers "have complete choice of what they provide to their customers. And QuickTime is widely licensed and available on many new PCs," he said.> Microsoft's "good for the consumer" is just so much horseshit. Once the monopoly is in place, the consumer gets reamed. jmho WebDrone