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Users may see few changes
More non-Microsoft items on PC desktop possible, experts say 11/02/2001
If terms of Microsoft's settlement with the Department of Justice become
reality, users of Windows operating systems will see few changes in the
operation and construction of their computer desktops, experts said
Thursday.
The only visible evidence for home and office personal computer users
may be a proliferation of non-Microsoft desktop icons in machines
shipped by manufacturers such as Dell, Sony and the new
Hewlett-Packard/Compaq conglomerate.
"That would be the only near-term visual impact," said Rob Enderle,
analyst for the Giga Information Group.
Microsoft had attempted to restrict manufacturers from adding ready
access to services such as rival America Online inside its new Windows
XP operating system. America Online, Kodak and other companies protested
that the software maker was using its hefty, 90 percent share of the
worldwide personal computer market to push its own products, such as the
MSN Internet service and Microsoft "preferred" online photo processors.
Kodak's concerns were quelled when Microsoft agreed to change a dialog
box affecting how Windows XP handles imaging devices, such as digital
cameras and scanners.
Kodak agreed that its software would not automatically become the
default for any digital camera attached to a PC and to publicly support
Windows XP. America Online, meanwhile, quickly moved to obtain
agreements from prominent PC manufacturers to include sign-up options
inside XP-loaded machines.
Those disputes prompted some U.S. senators and state attorneys general
to urge Department of Justice attorneys to seek an injunction preventing
the release of the new XP operating system.
Should a settlement be reached, such desktop access issued would be left
up to an oversight committee of unspecified composition, according to
news reports.
"The long-term outcome of all this will hinge on that oversight
committee," Mr. Enderle said. "That's a huge variable. It could be
anything from a rubber stamp for Microsoft or it could effectively run
the company. There's no way to know right now."
Under the settlement proposition, no changes would be necessary in
Microsoft's broad .NET strategy to sell and control access to its
emerging set of Web-based applications, such as the Passport
authentication program opposed by some prominent privacy and consumer
groups, several analysts said.
Under one version of the proposal, Microsoft would be free to continue
weaving new features into its operating systems that directly compete
with third-party software products.
Critics said Windows XP continues Microsoft's practice of developing
features of its operating system that compete with independent companies
that have no hope of survival without access to Windows desktops.
The new operating system, for example, contains for the first time a
basic, built-in security firewall, which disenfranchises products such
as Black Ice Defender and Norton Internet Security. And its Windows
Media Player 8.0, critics said, is unfairly being incorporated into XP
to the competitive disadvantage of companies such as RealNetworks.
Microsoft was found to have engaged in a pattern of anti-competitive
conduct aimed at squeezing out competition in the nascent Internet
browser market and keeping a chokehold on its monopoly of the personal
computer operating system market. The company's move to tie its Internet
browser to its operating system was a central point in the court's
finding of improper, monopolistic practices.
But the highest appeals court to handle the case rejected claims that
the simple act of tying software to Windows was illegal, and ordered a
lower court to examine the issue using the more complicated standard of
whether the "benefits of tying" outweighed harm to rivals.
"Remember, if it's something that looks like it might benefit users, the
court has already been kind of favorable to that, anyway," said Mr.
Enderle. "Sometimes that sort of bundle does benefit users."
Addressing such issues in any settlement may still leave some sticky
problems for the computer industry and end users of non-Microsoft
software, said Mr. Enderle. Just this week, the widespread implications
of Microsoft behavior could be seen in an apparent snafu with the
company's new MSN 7.0 Web portal.
The popular home page for information and resources opened with a
redesign that would not function when viewed with alternative browsers,
including Opera and AOL Time Warner's Netscape 6.1.
Microsoft redesigned the site to accommodate other browsers to address
complaints from Opera, leaders of Web standards groups and
anti-Microsoft advocacy groups, including the Project to Promote
Competition and Innovation in the Digital Age (Procomp).
For them, the MSN 7.0 portal design portends even more problems if the
oversight committee is not strong, or the sanctions for anti-competitive
practices are not stringent.
"The latest actions by Microsoft should demonstrate the true character
of Microsoft and its breathtaking disregard for software users, and
should underscore the need for a tough, comprehensive remedy," said Mike
Pettit, Procomp president, in a letter to the Justice Department.
"Microsoft," he wrote, "should not be left free to take this kind of
unilateral action against rival browsers while it delays imposition of
permanent and binding constraints on its conduct."
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