Re:Microsoft files monopoly complaint against Google
by haberman on Thursday March 31, 2011 @02:09PM
(#2392831)
Just some historical context for the anti-competitive behaviors that Microsoft refined and perfected into an art:
Obfuscated code to prevent Windows 3.1 from running on competing MS-DOS systems like DR-DOS. Microsoft VP internal memo:
> What the [user] is supposed to do is feel uncomfortable,
> and when he has bugs, suspect that the problem is DR-DOS
> and then go out to buy MS-DOS."
Licenses and threats that prevented Hitachi from pre-installing BeOS on in a dual boot configuration with MS-Windows. From the Be complaint:
> Hitachi eventually explained that the terms of its license
> with Microsoft prohibited preinstallation of another operating
> system in a dual-boot configuration. Hitachi also
> revealed that after it notified Microsoft of its intention to
> preinstall BeOS, Microsoft sent two U.S. managers to Japan who
> expressed their “anger” with Hitachi over its arrangement with
> Be, and “reminded” Hitachi of the terms of its Windows
> license."
An explicit strategy of "embrace, extend, extinguish":
> [Former Intel exec Peter] McGeady also testified to MS's
> professed strategy of "embrace, extend, extinguish." MS
> planned to "extend" the HTML standard to the point where it
> would be incompatible with the Netscape browser and then to
> encourage developers to use the MS HTML such that web pages
> couldn't be read with Netscape's browser.
Obfuscated code to prevent Windows 3.1 from running on competing MS-DOS systems like DR-DOS. Microsoft VP internal memo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARD_codeLicenses and threats that prevented Hitachi from pre-installing BeOS on in a dual boot configuration with MS-Windows. From the Be complaint:
http://www.beincorporated.com/msft_complaint.pdfAn explicit strategy of "embrace, extend, extinguish":
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/msdoj/transcript/summaries2.htm...I could go on, but you get the idea. Compared to these, "Google makes it too hard for us to index YouTube" sounds pretty tame in comparison.