THE MICROSOFT AGREEMENT : Voices
“It’s good for the Justice Department to send messages that Big Brother is going to watch and make sure nothing outrageous is going to happen. But antitrust actions in this field tend to come too late. It’s not like steel or light bulbs, where the same firms stay around year after year doing the same thing. It changes too fast.’
--Charles Morris, industry consultant and author
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“For Bill (Gates), Microsoft is a personal crusade. So, of course he was very personal about this. When he speaks about Microsoft--and I think he’s gotten better about this because he’s been trained--he basically says ‘I.’ ‘
--Esther Dyson, publisher of a software industry newsletter
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“While the company fairly and lawfully climbed to the top of the industry ladder, it used unfair and illegal practices to maintain its dominant position.’
--Atty. Gen. Janet Reno
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“There’s no question they had locked up the market with these practices, completely unfairly. That will end.’
--Assistant Atty. Gen. Anne K. Bingaman
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“As we have said from the beginning of this investigation . . . Microsoft believes that it has always conducted its business in a perfectly legal fashion.’
--William Neukom, Microsoft senior vice president for law and corporate affairs
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“Many of our customers do business on a global basis, and we are pleased to have resolved this in a manner that will enable them to continue to license software from us easily and inexpensively throughout the world.’
--Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates
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“Clearly, we see this as a victory. This has been a long effort by many companies for many years, and this decision today will provide consumers with increased choices and more innovative products.’
--David Bradford, general counsel at software vendor Novell Inc. in Provo, Utah.
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“Microsoft will use its clout to remain king of the hill for some time. The Department of Justice is going to apparently permit them to continue to announce (new software) years in advance of actually delivering anything. These . . . fantasies freeze everybody else out the market as people sit there and wait for Bill (Gates) to deliver.’
--Jim Warren, writer for several computer publications
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“This caught all of us by surprise here. We still have to assess what the implications will be for (the IBM operating system) OS/2, but if this opens up more choices for consumers, we are very pleased.’
--John Iwata, spokesman for IBM
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“I can’t think of a case where an American company settled charges simultaneously in America and Europe. But you are going to see more cases like this in the future.’
--Richard Donovan, antitrust attorney
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“The government came up with a very narrow agreement that will have very little effect on Microsoft’s business.’
--Rick Sherlund, an analyst with Goldman Sachs & Co.
