with their 
?
Posted on 03/08/2002 9:56:26 AM PST by TroutStalker
Edited on 04/22/2004 11:46:18 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
NEW YORK -- Sun Microsystems Inc. said Friday it filed a private antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp., alleging the software giant engaged in "extensive" anticompetitive practices.
Sun's complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., comes six weeks after media giant AOL Time Warner Inc. filed a similar suit against Microsoft in federal court in Washington D.C.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
with their ?
Sun Microsystems Press Release
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 8 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced it has filed a private antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation. The suit, filed in the United States District Court in San Jose, seeks remedies for the harm inflicted by Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior with respect to the Java(TM) platform and for damages resulting from Microsoft's illegal efforts to maintain and expand its monopoly power.
In June 2001, the Federal Court of Appeals found Microsoft guilty of illegally abusing its monopoly power with respect to Sun and the Java platform. Sun's suit seeks redress for the competitive and economic harm caused by Microsoft's illegal acts.
"After careful consideration, Sun filed this suit in order to uphold its fiduciary responsibilities to its shareholders and employees," said Michael Morris, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "This private antitrust lawsuit is intended to restore competition in the marketplace by removing unlawful barriers to the distribution of the Java platform and to interoperability between Microsoft software and competitive technologies. The achievement of these goals will allow for greater innovation and increased customer choice."
In its complaint, Sun alleges that Microsoft has engaged in extensive anticompetitive conduct, including the following:• Fragmenting the Java platform;
• Flooding the market with incompatible Java Runtime Environments;
• Forcing other companies to distribute or use products that are incompatible with Java;
• Significantly limiting Sun's distribution channels for the Java Runtime Environment;
• Intentionally interfering with the development of Java-based applications for compatible runtimes;
• Copyright infringement resulting from Microsoft's distribution of an unlicensed implementation of the Java Runtime Environment;
• Intentional creation of incompatibilities between Microsoft software and competing technologies, thereby raising switching costs for consumers and reducing consumer choice.
Sun's filing points out that, in recent antitrust proceedings brought by the United States, 19 individual states and the District of Columbia, "Microsoft was held to have illegally maintained its monopoly over the market for Intel-compatible personal computer ("PC") operating systems by engaging in anticompetitive acts that impeded the distribution and/or use of alternative platforms that threatened Microsoft's monopoly, including Sun's Java platform."
"While this suit is based on the past actions of Microsoft, Sun also believes that Microsoft's continuing practices in the marketplace represent a threat to lawful competition and the millions of developers who depend on the existence of an open software industry. This behavior manifests Microsoft's goal to use its monopoly position to turn the Internet into its proprietary platform. What is at stake here is the future of an open software industry and an open Internet," continued Morris.
In its suit, Sun is seeking preliminary injunctions requiring Microsoft to:• Distribute Sun's current binary implementation of the Java plug-in as part of Windows XP and Internet Explorer;
• Stop distribution of Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine through separate downloads.
Sun also is seeking a permanent injunction requiring Microsoft to disclose and license proprietary interfaces, protocols, and formats and to unbundle tied products, such as Internet Explorer, IIS web server, and the .Net framework. In addition to this, Sun's suit seeks treble damages as provided by law.
For more information about this suit, visit http://www.sun.com/lawsuit1.
Mike Morris quotes available for broadcast media via satellite downlink at:
Date: 03-08-02
Time: 09:25 to 10:10 Pacific Time (9:25-9:45 test)
Satellite: T6C -- Transponder 22 -- C-band
Frequency: 4140 mhz
Polarity: Horizontal Down
Audio phone number for Radio Stations:
800-475-6701 access 630763
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- The Network Is The Computer(TM) -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software, and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to take their businesses to the nth. Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com2.
NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, Inc., the Sun logo, Java, and the Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks, in the United States and certain other countries, of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully acknowledged.
It's almost as slow and annoying as "C#".
I'm still trying to figure out what genius came up with the name "C#" Most musicians can tell you that "C#" is the worst key in Western Music.
If the machine didn't come with software, customers would have had to pay much higher prices for the software at retail prices.
Yeah, I understand free enterprise. I also understand fair play and fair competition. In the early and mid 90s microsoft used illegal tactics to gain control of the market.
They had some CRAPPY products. Their only distinction was that their ruthlessness got them there first. Instead of making their products better through competition, they bullied vendors into giving them all the market and smothering their competition. We suffered for 4-5 years with countless bugs and upgrades and new releases of the same products.
I just laugh when MS syas that Windows and Internet Explorer cannot be "seperated". I remember installing Internet Explorer on Windows 95 machines because 95 didn't have IE.
Instead of developing an Operating System that is bullet proof and offering hundreds of application that run under that OS, MS offers an Operating System that does hundreds of different applications and is not bullet proof. There is a HUGE difference.
EBUCK
Want a better analogy? GM owns 95% of the auto market, and decides that it's going to unilaterally change how the radio standard works by installing radios in their cars that are incompatible with the existing standard. Now, if radio content providers want to be heard, they need to move to the new GM format, making incompatible existing car stereos and home stereos. GM then starts selling home stereos, and wins in that market too because they won't release the full set of new radio "standards" to their competitors, who struggle trying to make their radios work with incomplete information.
Then, when the other radio manufacturers sue, people will rally around GM and defend the "free market".
There's whining... and there's justifiable complaints.
It truly sickens me to think that companies like Sun, with inferior products, brought havoc upon a company like Microsoft, whose programs work on a greater-than-random basis, got the Reno Justice Dept. involved, and,ultimately, helped contribute to the demise of the tech market, pushing the entire stock market and economy into recession.
Sounds farfetched--sounds like a Rube Goldberg design, but Rush pointed out the connection months ago and, as usual, he was right.
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