DevBlog

The Federal Appeals court has reopened the Microsoft anti-trust case. Ugh! Enough already. I'm not in any way condoning what Microsoft did, nor am I saying the agreement with the DOJ is fair and correct, but the anti-Microsoft side just doesn't get it. An eWeek article states, A six-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard two cases today, brought by Massachusetts and by two trade associations of rival technology companies. Both are seeking to overturn the federal agreement entered one year ago to remedy the unlawful conduct Microsoft was found to have engaged in vis-à-vis Netscape Navigator and Java. What these people don't get is that while Microsoft did help with the demise of Netscape, Netscape also shot themselves in the foot. They simply had inferior technology. Even after they were purchased by AOL, the IE browser was still being used in the AOL client software. Look back at the history of the PC industry and you'll see lots of the same examples of companies (for example, Digital Research, WordPerfect, Novell) fighting Microsoft only to make stupid moves themselves that ultimately hurt them. If you don't believe me, go read In Search of Stupidity. Microsoft can't be solely blamed for what happened to these companies, but the anti-Microsoft side would like you to think it is.