Peter wrote:


But wasn't a major part of the court process centred around
determining whether IE was or was not a necessary part of the O/S?
Weren't Microsoft claiming that it was and, if removed, then the
O/S would not work...

Microsoft uses the same contemptuous argument in every bundling
case. That's what it said also in the European Union case about
Windows Media Player. The EU didn't buy it either.


Isn't that one of the major reasons why the case dragged on for so
long? One set of experts trying to prove that IE was NOT a
necessary component.

That's something most of us could only say "DUH" to.

Some of the things Microsoft lawyers said during the trial were so
incredibly silly.

But you know, not long ago someone in here said that a computer
without the Internet is not a computer. And they were serious. Gives
me an eerie feeling, like it's Microsoft speak or something.


Didn't some group or groups actually manage to remove IE
completely and still have Windows work? Wasn't that a major
factor in disproving M$'s claims? In other words, it wasn't just
a simple case of showing that and O/S should not have applications
as it's components, it was far more complicated than that at the
time.

I think the idea of separating the operating system from the
applications was the main part of the proposed remedy.

Consumers buy Windows because of so many available applications.
Software developers write for Windows because so many people buy
Windows. I think that's the positive feedback loop which the court
called "the applications barrier to entry" and that's how Microsoft
holds monopoly power.

Microsoft was concerned that the Java contained/distributed in
navigator would allow too many applications to run on non-Microsoft
operating systems and end Microsoft's monopoly power.

I think it was mainly about how Microsoft used its monopoly power to
force Netscape Navigator out of the market.


It was some time ago so may 'facts' may be somewhat of the mark.


Same here even though I did follow it closely at the time.

I didn't realize it was going to drag on for years, I learned about
the slowness of major court proceedings too.