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Antitrust Tide Turns Against Microsoft
"The Minnesota plaintiffs are seeking $425 million. It is the first case of its kind to reach a trial against Microsoft. The company has spent more than $1 billion to settle similar claims by consumers in California and other states," The Los Angeles Times reported. The St. Paul Pioneer Press said "Monday was the first time such charges were leveled in a state court on behalf of consumers. Attorneys for seven Minnesota plaintiffs began a day-long process of unveiling what they said were never-before-seen documents, many from past and present Microsoft officers, including company chairman Bill Gates, that showed how the company viewed its competition."
• Los Angeles Times: Europe Votes for Microsoft Sanctions (Registration required, same link as above)
• The St. Paul Pioneer Press: Lawyers Call Microsoft A Bully
The Associated Press also noted the case is the "first class-action, antitrust trial in a state court opened against the software giant. The case, being heard by a jury in Hennepin County District Court, involves alleged overcharging for Windows and the company's Word and Excel programs. The outcome could affect nearly 1 million individuals and businesses. The plaintiffs are seeking damages between $283 million and $425 million for alleged overcharges on about 9.7 million Microsoft software licenses issued in Minnesota from 1994 to 2001."
• The Associated Press via washingtonpost.com: State Case Against Microsoft Begins (Registration required)
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The Minneapolis Star Tribune explained that the "plaintiffs claim Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior reduced competition and allowed it to charge higher prices than it otherwise could. In an interview, a Microsoft attorney called the company's dealings with other companies irrelevant to the plaintiffs' claims that it overcharged consumers."
• The Minneapolis Star Tribune: Plaintiffs: Microsoft Undercut Its Rival
Microsoft's Shared Source Growth
It's no secret that Microsoft sees open-source software like Linux as a major threat to its business, so it's interesting to see how a program launched to counter Linux appears to be paying off for Redmond. The company's "shared source" initiative, lets "industry partners, corporate customers and researchers peek at and sometimes tweak the code in the company's software," crossed the 1 million subscriber mark yesterday, The New York Times reported in an article published on The International Herald Tribune Web site. "On Monday, Microsoft was due to announce that its shared-source initiative had one million licensed participants, from lone software developers to large corporations. The milestone, said Jason Matusow, manager of the shared-source initiative at Microsoft, shows that the company has responded to the demands of its customers."
• The New York Times via The International Herald Tribune: Microsoft Gains 1 Million Shared-Source Users
Reuters reported that the bulk of the "shared source participants have had relatively unrestricted access to Windows CE, Microsoft's software for devices such as cell phones and handheld computers. Access to the Windows operating system for personal computers and servers, which drives the bulk of sales at Microsoft, is more restricted."
• Reuters: Microsoft Code Sharing Program Reaches 1Mln Mark
Another Score for Linux
Hewlett-Packard hasn't been on Microsoft's best-friend list lately, and don't expect the two companies to be too buddy-buddy down the road. HP may sell Linux-based personal computers in Asia, Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires reported. Reuters called the plan "a potential blow to dominant operating system provider Microsoft Corp. A launch would make California-based HP, which currently sells Microsoft's Windows-based personal computers, the first major PC maker to offer PCs that run on the competing Linux operating system, a spokesman for HP's Japanese unit said."
• Reuters via Yahoo!: Hewlett-Packard May Launch Linux PCs In Asia
Dow Jones Newswires said "HP's move may prompt other PC makers to follow suit. As Linux is an open-source operating system, prices of Linux PCs are expected to be lower than those of Windows PCs. That would further fuel already-intense price competition in the global PC market."
• Dow Jones Newswires via Yahoo!: Hewlett-Packard Plans To Launch Linux-Based PCs In Asia
A Game Plan
Two ex-Microsoft executives have formed a video-game company called Emogence. Herb Marselas and Chas. Boyd, who hailed from Microsoft's Direct 3D graphics group, "expect to unveil their first-person role-playing game, called 'Grafan,' at the E3 game convention in Los Angeles in May," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, noting the game is targeted for Microsoft-based PCs. Go figure.
• The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: New Game Studio Fine-Tuning Titles
The RIAA's Friends in High Places
In yet another display of the clout the recording industry has with lawmakers and law enforcement, the attorneys general of a number of states are considering whether to go after makers of file-sharing software as part of the larger effort to thwart illegal fileswapping, The Los Angeles Times reported. The report is based on a letter allegedly written by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the text of which says: "Over the coming months, we will begin focusing more attention on the risks P2P software programs pose to consumers in our states. "The letter, which was disseminated by a trade group that represents file-sharing software firms such as Kazaa and Morpheus, warns that the states' top law enforcement officers have set their cross hairs on the purveyors of peer-to-peer programs. Outlined in the letter are concerns that the software companies have not done enough to curtail the unauthorized distribution of movies, music, software, video games and pornography."
• The Los Angeles Times: File-Sharing Firms Could Be Targeted By State Prosecutors, Letter Says (Registration required)
CNET's News.com said "Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar did not directly confirm or deny the authorship of the document, which was apparently leaked to file-swapping companies last week. Lockyer and other state attorneys general are gathering in Washington, D.C., this week for their spring meeting. But Dresslar acknowledged that his boss is investigating peer-to-peer networks."
• CNET's News.com: P2P Faces New Legal Scrutiny From States
So who's behind the letter? Vans Stevenson, senior vice president for state legislative affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America, according to the New York Times. "Mr. Stevenson acknowledged that he had worked on the letter, but called it 'a work in progress' and said that his association was simply doing what such groups do: raising their concerns with lawmakers and trying to work with them," the newspaper said. The MPAA, of course, is a close ally of the RIAA on Internet piracy matters.
• New York Times: States May Be Aiming at Web File Sharing (Registration required)
RIAA Strategy Still Paying Off
As officials work to crack down on illegal file-swapping, more companies are getting involved in the pay-for-play legal downloading craze. Starbucks now has plans to offer its customers a service to burn CDs in its stores. Just like its coffee, the service won't be cheap. "Patrons will be able to walk up to a counter and use a flat, touch-screen computer display to browse through a collection of about 150,000 tracks. They will be charged $6.99 for the first five songs and $1 for every individual track after that. Included in the price: a labeled CD and jewel case. By comparison, popular online digital music services like Napster 2.0, MusicNet or the iTunes Music Store offer between 300,000 and a half-million tracks, which sell for 99 cents each or $10 for a full album," The Associated Press reported.
• The Associated Press via washingtonpost.com: Starbucks To Offer Digital Music CDs (Registration required)
Speaking if iTunes, Apple said yesterday it had sold more than 50 million songs through the service. "In the online music marketplace, iTunes store's closest competitor, Napster, has sold only about 5 million downloads -- though that does not include Napster's streaming music subscription service. And Apple's 50 million-song tally does not include songs Pepsi and Apple are giving away in their promotion together. Customers are now downloading at a rate of 2.5 million songs a week, or about 130 million a year," The San Jose Mercury News said.
• The San Jose Mercury News: 50 Millionth Song Marks A Milestone For iTunes
• The Associated Press via washingtonpost.com: Apple Sells 50 Million Songs on the Web (Registration required)