| Friday, May 30, 2003 |
17:00 - Obligatory Microsoft Settlement Post
http://www.macminute.com/2003/05/29/microsoft
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A whimper:
Microsoft on Thursday said that it will pay US$750 million to settle a private antitrust lawsuit that was filed last year by AOL Time Warner on behalf of its subsidiary, Netscape Communications. The agreement also includes a new royalty-free, seven-year license of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player to AOL. The two companies said they agreed on "a variety of steps designed to ensure that their products work better with each other." In addition, the software giant and AOL said they will "work to broaden consumer access to high-quality digital content, in such areas as online music services offering single downloads and/or monthly subscriptions [and] authorized Internet access to movies."
That's what they call a "settlement" these days. "Oh, stop twisting our arms! $750 million dollars? Make it stop! The pain! Oh, oh, oh-- and you want us to give you our technology, too? Have you no hearts? First you bleed us of nearly the worth of Bill's finest pinky ring in compensation, and then you vow to use our browser and media player and iTunes-clone music store exclusively for perpetuity? Nooo! Don't throw us in dat dere briar patch!"
Take the word "settlement" out of this and it looks an awful lot like Microsoft just bought a controlling interest in AOL, complete with an agreement for AOL to drop Netscape development forever. The only inconvenience to Microsoft is that it took so long.
It's long been said that "You don't make a deal with Microsoft." But the trouble is that you don't not make a deal with Microsoft either.
Ah well. It's hard to even get too worked up over this anymore; at one time (like, say, 1998) I was flabbergasted by these kinds of maddening playing-right-into-Redmond's-hands developments. But it's such old hat now that it slips down over my eyes and I fall asleep.
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