The DoJ is reviewing every feature and function of Windows 7 to ensure it’s “in compliance.” That’s not Good for anyone:
By the time the gov’t gets around to declaring a monopoly, or doing something about it, much damage has been done.
I joined IBM in 1994 – ~40 years into the “Consent Decree” – and it was Good for very few people at that point; most of them were lawyers and none of them were consumers.
Microsoft pre-DoJ was Bad for a lot of people. The folks around OS/2 among them. The folks around the BeOS were another (truly, deeply a shame). Netscape. Palm. Others that I saw the destruction up close and personal. I have no love for their business practices nor the majority of their technology.
Holding Microsoft back now at this point, in DoJ review sessions for Windows 7, is an awful idea benefiting no one. No one but lawyers.
It’s time to let them “innovate” w/r/t development. (<- I laughed only a little when writing that; there are a lot of smart people there, and Ray Ozzie to lead them.) The DoJ should keep eyes on the monopoloistic deals: don’t let them cut anti-competitive agreements with Dell, HP or anyone, but let them develop cool stuff technology-wise to keep Apple, Google and the hundreds of startups feeling the heat to keep ahead of them (*way* ahead).
