Microsoft's 'super optimistic' chief
Published: 07 Apr 2004 13:15 BST
So, in your ideal world, what, if any, limits should there be on what Microsoft can add to the OS?
I do not think there should be limits. I think what there should be is a rule of reason. I understand the rule of reason; that is the law, as applied to us in this country. We honour that, we support that, we live with that. It says, "look, if there is consumer benefit here, and the consumer benefit is clear, and the benefit sort of outweighs other issues, we should go ahead and do that." Then, the consent decree says we should do that in a way such that we comply with that decree. If the thing is middleware, we have certain obligations; if it's not middleware, we have different obligations.
How do you measure consumer benefits? I guess the argument is long-term versus short-term. In the browser space, for example: In the short term, Internet Explorer certainly was free, and Netscape was $30 (£16.32), but in the long term, the critics would say Netscape is not really viable now.
The courts articulated the test, and we think about that, as we integrate new capability. It is not up to you; it is not up to me. Is it OK that Netscape is out of business? I think so. Apparently. The rule of reason is: it is OK. Nobody ever said the browser did not meet the rule-of-reason test. It absolutely met the rule-of-reason test to go in.
So, with the current rule-of-reason test, as it is being expressed here, if you went back eight years or so, that would still be an allowable procedure?
Yeah, absolutely, I would still integrate a browser. We would still integrate the Media Player.
With your concept of integrated innovation is Windows becoming more closed?
There has never been a platform more open than ours, as evidenced by the fact that there has never been a platform on which people have written more applications or supported more devices.
You can make an argument from the open-source side that.
No, no, nobody can make the argument that open source is actually more open and sensitive to encourage more third-party innovation.
You could say all the things about open source, but clearly, more people have used more application programming interfaces and interfaces in Windows by several orders of magnitude than any other product ever written.
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