Consumer groups lament Microsoft deal
Published: 02 Nov 2001 18:13 GMT
Consumer advocate groups reacted to Friday's Microsoft-Department of Justice antitrust settlement with disappointment.
Groups such as the Consumer Project on Technology said that the software giant, which settled its landmark case with the Justice Department at the last minute on Friday, got off too easy.
Given Microsoft's record at the trial, "they seem to have done pretty well with the settlement with the DOJ," said James Love, director of the consumer organisation. The Consumer Project on Technology, formed by Ralph Nader in 1995, focuses on intellectual property rights, among other things.
"We're disappointed," he said. "We would have expected to see more pop (in the settlement)."
Other groups are expected to weigh in with similar opinions on the settlement as the day progresses.
The terms of Microsoft's settlement include several specific agreements in which Microsoft promises to not to engage in contractual arrangements or related activities that compel other companies to do its bidding.
The company agreed, for example, to disclose server protocols to ensure that it cannot make Windows desktop software work better with its server software than with that of competitors. The company also agreed not to retaliate against PC manufacturers or software developers for supporting certain competing products.
To help enforce this provision, Microsoft agreed to license Windows to computer makers uniformly, rather than offer better pricing only to some, for a period of five years.
But the Windows operating system emerges largely untouched and Windows XP will be free of any far-reaching restrictions.
The proposed settlement would be in effect for five years, with the possibility of a two-year extension, leaving groups such as the Consumer Project on Technology wondering what happens after five years.
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