Will antitrust change if Democrats take White House?
,----[ Quote ]
| With Democrats in a strong position to win the White House after eight years
| of Republican rule, antitrust lawyers say any controversial corporate deals
| should be announced soon if they hope to get approval before next January.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN0564845520080311?rpc=44
Microsoft is already undoing itself anyway...
Microsoft Workspace Is a Half Step in Right Direction
,----[ Quote ]
| If there ever was proof of how illusory a monopoly can be in this strange new
| digital world of ours, spend just one minute with Microsoft Office Live
| Workspace, the software giant's new online office collaborative software
| tool.
|
| Workspace emerged as a full beta early last week ... but it has been kicking
| around since last year.
|
| While it is an interesting -- if quirky -- product, it reveals just how
| vulnerable Microsoft has become in the collaborative office productivity
| market.
`----
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/small-business-solutions/10407208.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA
Yesterday:
Microsoft Antitrust Oversight Curtailed by Bush Administration
,----[ Quote ]
| - The Bush administration is leaving most enforcement of the Microsoft Corp.
| antitrust settlement to the 17 states that joined in suing the world's
| largest software maker in 1998.
`----
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aZlZaQM5xGZg&refer=news
Windows 7: Out of Luck
,----[ Quote ]
| Luckily for us, the EU's interest has no cut-off date....
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2008/03/windows-7-out-of-luck.html
Related:
Feds seek formal extension of Microsoft antitrust deal
,—-[ Quote ]
| The U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft on Wednesday filed a
| formal application for a two-year extension of portions of their
| landmark antitrust settlement, with the possibility of stretching it
| until 2012.
`—-
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6111240.html
Microsoft Finds Legal Defender in Justice Dept.
,----[ Quote ]
| Nearly a decade after the government began its landmark effort to break
| up Microsoft, the Bush administration has sharply changed course by
| repeatedly defending the company both in the United States and abroad
| against accusations of anticompetitive conduct, including the recent
| rejection of a complaint by Google.
|
| [...]
|
| In the most striking recent example of the policy shift, the top
| antitrust official at the Justice Department last month urged state
| prosecutors to reject a confidential antitrust complaint filed by
| Google that is tied to a consent decree that monitors Microsoft's
| behavior. Google has accused Microsoft of designing its latest
| operating system, Vista, to discourage the use of Google's desktop
| search program, lawyers involved in the case said.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/business/10microsoft.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Kroes slams US criticism of EU Microsoft ruling
,----[ Quote ]
| Kroes said that it was "unacceptable" that a representative of the US
| judiciary should criticise a court of law outside his jurisdiction.
|
| “It is absolutely not done,” she told journalists on Wednesday.
|
| “The European commission does not pass judgement on US rulings and we should
| expect the same from the US.”
`----
http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200709/87884c7c-c721-49b1-b6f0-5ba4ece0897c.htm
Microsoft, The European Union, and the United States: A Statement by the AAI
,----[ Quote ]
| The AAI comments on the European Court of First Instance's upholding of the
| EC's Microsoft decision, taking the USDOJ to task for poor diplomacy and
| mistaken policy in its criticism of the EC.
`----
http://www.antitrustinstitute.org/Archives/miceu3.ashx
Microsoft sets spinners on court verdict
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft may have lost in court, but it quickly tried to win the war of
| media reaction via organisations like CompTIA, the Computing Technology
| Industry Association and ACT (the Association for Competitive Technology)
| which both intervened in court on its side.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/17/reaction_microsoft_verdict/
US politicians go to bat for Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/
Report Says Nonprofits Sold Influence to Abramoff
,----[ Quote ]
| E-mails released by the committee show that Abramoff, often
| with the knowledge of the groups' leaders, exploited the tax-exempt
| status and leveraged the stature of the organizations to build
| support among conservatives for legislation or government action
| sought by clients including Microsoft Corp., mutual fund company
| DH2 Inc., Primedia Inc.'s Channel One Network, and Brown-Forman,
| maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey.
`----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200889.html
http://tinyurl.com/y2rbpu
Politicians in Microsoft's Pocket
,----[ Quote ]
| Continuing on the theme of which politicians are receiving money from
| who. Here is a list of candidates who took money from MSFT.
`----
http://www.fonz.net/blog/archives/2007/06/04/politicians-in-microsofts-pocket/
Microsoft says to borrow money for Yahoo deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp said on Monday it may borrow money for the first time in its
| history to fund a portion of its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo
| Inc.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN0455692920080205
EU May Fine Microsoft Over Antitrust Case, People Say
,----[ Quote ]
| The fine may be announced as soon as Feb. 27, said the people, who declined
| to be identified because the decision isn't public. Microsoft said in a Jan.
| 24 U.S. regulatory filing that the penalty may be as much as 1.5 billion
| euros ($2.2 billion).
`----
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=MSFT:US&sid=aG8SwG8llTmM
Microsoft's Last Big Beat: Internet Domination or Death
,----[ Quote ]
| What can $44.6B USD mean? Well, for Microsoft (MSFT) it may mean the cost of
| survival.
`----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/63876-microsoft-s-last-big-beat-internet-domination-or-death?source=yahoo
Will Microsoft Survive the Next 10 Years?
,----[ Quote ]
| I am not really an expert in this but when I read all the negative
| headlines and articles I ask myself if Microsoft really will survive
| the next 10 years.
|
| [...]
|
| I am pretty sure that the Open Source Community, the new Ubuntu,
| Google and of course Apple are those companies that are ready for
| our century and they will get more and more people that know what
| they really want.
`----
http://websquirrel.blogspot.com/2007/03/will-microsoft-survive-next-10-years.html
P. Graham: Microsoft is Dead
,----[ Quote ]
| A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking
| to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo.
| I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of
| Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a "media
| company" instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face
| and realized he didn't understand. It was as if I'd told him how much
| girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s. Barry who?
|
| Microsoft? He didn't say anything, but I could tell he didn't quite
| believe anyone would be frightened of them.
`----
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
Microsoft's DreamSpark – What a Giveaway
,----[ Quote ]
| The rest of the $44.6bn (£22.3bn) deal would be financed with an undisclosed
| amount of credit.
|
| What that means is that it must squeeze as much money as it can from its
| operations to fund that debt and still pay dividends to shareholders, who
| will be looking for some payback from the Yahoo takeover. Giving away
| software is the last thing it would want to do in these circumstances, and
| the DreamSpark announcement shows just how worried it is about the future.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/microsofts-dreamspark-%E2%80%93-what-giveaway
Debt in Disguise
,----[ Quote ]
| The purpose of securitization is to make the credit rating of the company
| practically irrelevant in a financing, so that even in a bankruptcy the
| receivables cash flow will be protected....
|
| The rating agencies also rely greatly on legal constructs that say the
| payment stream to investors will not be hindered. For instance, the transfer
| of receivables to the SPE must be a "true sale." That is, the seller must not
| retain too much of the reward or the risk coming from the asset, says Robert
| Hahn, a partner with Hunton & Williams LLP. In addition, the SPE has to
| be "nonrecourse" — in other words, the company's creditors must not have
| claim to the assets of the SPE if the originating company goes bankrupt.
|
| "Securitization divorces the creditworthiness of the [company] from the
| credit of the pool," says Mark Spradling, a partner with Vinson & Elkings
| LLP. "True sale and nonconsolidation are part of that separation."
|
| But the opinion that legal control of receivables has passed to a third party
| has not been litigated in the bankruptcy courts....
|
| Tapping the capital markets without a lending bank in between means that even
| non-investment-grade companies can finance at near what triple-A companies
| pay.
`----
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/10013957/c_10203909?f=home_todayinfinance&x=1
Microsoft's 10-Q on the impact of litigation
,----[ Quote ]
| Antitrust, unfair competition, and overcharge class actions. A large number
| of antitrust and unfair competition class action lawsuits have been filed
| against us in various state, federal, and Canadian courts on behalf of
| various classes of direct and indirect purchasers of our PC operating system
| and certain other software products. We obtained dismissals of damages claims
| of indirect purchasers under federal law and in 15 states. Courts refused to
| certify classes in two additional states. We have reached agreements to
| settle all claims that have been made to date in 19 states....
|
| Other antitrust litigation and claims. In November 2004, Novell, Inc. filed a
| complaint in U.S. District Court in Utah, now consolidated with other cases
| in Maryland, asserting antitrust and unfair competition claims against us
| related to Novell’s ownership of WordPerfect and other productivity
| applications during the period between June 1994 and March 1996. ...
|
| Patent and intellectual property claims. We are vigorously defending more
| than 45 patent infringement cases. ...
|
| Adverse outcomes in some or all of the matters described in this section may
| result in significant monetary damages or injunctive relief against us that
| would adversely affect distribution of our operating system or application
| products. We may enter into material settlements because of these risks. ...
|
| As of December 31, 2007, we had accrued aggregate liabilities of
| approximately $840 million in other current liabilities and approximately
| $660 million in other long-term liabilities for all of the contingent matters
| described in this note. While we intend to vigorously defend these matters,
| there exists the possibility of adverse outcomes that we estimate could be up
| to $4.1 billion in aggregate beyond recorded amounts. Were unfavorable final
| outcomes to occur, there exists the possibility of a material adverse impact
| on our financial position and on the results of operations for the period in
| which the effects become reasonably estimable.
`----
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/789019/000119312508011476/d10q.htm
Feeling the heat at Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| A couple of years ago you reiterated that IBM was Microsoft's biggest
| competitor and you said not just on the business side, but overall. If I ask
| you who is Microsoft's biggest competitor now, who would it be?
|
| Ballmer: Open...Linux. I don't want to say open source. Linux, certainly have
| to go with that.
`----
http://www.news.com/Feeling-the-heat-at-Microsoft/2008-1012_3-6232458.html?tag=ne.fd.mnbc
|
|
