10.30.07
DoJ and Microsoft Sitting on a Tree
‘Kissing cousins’ of the U S of A
Remember Microsoft’s conspicuous ties with the Department of Justice? Well, the following news may be an excellent illustration of the perfect relationship.
Microsoft, state prosecutors, and the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday said a federal judge needs more time to weigh whether Redmond should be subjected to a lengthier period of antitrust policing.
In a joint filing with U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who has been overseeing Microsoft’s antitrust compliance, they asked for a soon-to-expire oversight period to be temporarily extended until at latest January 31, 2008. That way, the judge will have more time to weigh the merits of last-minute pleas from a number of state prosecutors to add another five years to the oversight regime.
If you read closely you’ll see obedience and weakness. The weak and obedient party, however, is not that which is being accused. It’s the DoJ.
We have certainly covered many Microsoft stories recently (as opposed to Novell stories), but Novell’s front is eerily quiet. It’s out of the ordinary. Maybe you should have a look at “10 Reasons to Boycott Microsoft” rather than wait around here for more accusations against Novell. 
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.