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Microsoft behind $12 million payment to Opera
CNET News ^ | May 24, 2004, | Evan Hansen

Posted on 05/25/2004 7:10:09 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat

Microsoft agreed to pay Norway's Opera Software $12.75 million to head off a threatened lawsuit over code that made some Web pages on MSN look bad in certain versions of Opera's Web browser, CNET News.com has learned.

Opera disclosed the payment last week in a terse press release that omitted other details, including the name of the settling party and the nature of the dispute.

But a source indicated that the payment came from Microsoft in order to close the books on a clash over obscure interoperability problems. On at least three separate occasions, Opera has accused Microsoft of deliberately breaking interoperability between its MSN Web portal and various versions of the Opera browser--charges that the software giant has repeatedly denied.

A Microsoft representative said the company does not comment on rumors.

Reached by phone, Opera executives refused to name the company involved in the settlement or describe the nature of the legal claims, citing a confidentiality agreement.

"We forwarded a few facts to a big international corporation and settled before we took legal action," Opera Chief Technology Officer Hakon Lie said Tuesday. "This resolves an issue very close to my heart."

The deal marks the latest in a string of settlements from Microsoft, which is seeking to simplify its business by clearing up potentially damaging legal claims. In the past year, the company has agreed to pay billions of dollars to wrap up litigation with Sun Microsystems, digital rights management developer InterTrust and Time Warner's Netscape Communications division, among others.

While the Opera payment is relatively tiny, it underscores ongoing ripple effects in the browser market that stem from the overwhelming dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Having used its desktop operating system monopoly to help trounce its primary rival Netscape, Microsoft has effectively abandoned significant browser development efforts. That's left companies with negligible market share such as Opera and Netscape's Mozilla open-source project to lead innovation in the field.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: antitrust; browswer; microsoft; msn; opera
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To: N3WBI3
This is not a case of the site did not work with opera, this is a case where MS made the site intentionally not work with opera.

Your statement is contradictory. Since it is MS's site, they can do whatever the hell they want. There is no right to view a specific site with a particular browser.

Don't let any hatred you may have of MS cloud your judgment here. There's nobody's data being screwed up; there's no harm being done. MS simply wrote a site that won't display using a browser they don't like. That's the market. Opera users can go to other sites, and if those don't work, they need to get another browser.

81 posted on 05/26/2004 9:45:36 AM PDT by 1L
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To: 1L
Then why did they not target Mozilla, or Netscape? They (for whatever reason) picked out Opera.. If you can not see this is a totally unethical (and by the way they have been found guilty of using illegal tactics to push their software in the past) and probably illegal attach on a competitor.

If you cant see this was unethical then I am sorry for you and perhaps I am not the one letting my 'loyalty' to a certain set of software cloud my judgment.

82 posted on 05/26/2004 9:59:48 AM PDT by N3WBI3
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To: antiRepublicrat
And quit trying to compare intellectual property with real property.

Forget it. They're both property, and the rights of the owners need to be protected, and more importantly it doesn't need to be flat out given to US adversaries for free.

83 posted on 05/26/2004 2:48:58 PM PDT by Golden Eagle
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To: antiRepublicrat

I thought this was going to be an article about singing and Microsoft's failure to support the arts. I'm so out of it I have never heard of the Opera browser.


84 posted on 05/26/2004 2:56:34 PM PDT by wideminded
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To: Golden Eagle
Forget it. They're both property,

Now go back and read your Constitution again.

85 posted on 05/26/2004 2:58:56 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: antiRepublicrat

Denying it's not even property is absurd. Socialistic, if you ask me.


86 posted on 05/26/2004 3:01:54 PM PDT by Golden Eagle
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To: antiRepublicrat

BTTT


87 posted on 05/26/2004 3:13:10 PM PDT by Fiddlstix (This Tagline for sale. (Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: Golden Eagle
Denying it's not even property is absurd. Socialistic, if you ask me.

I take it you didn't read.

88 posted on 05/26/2004 7:26:20 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: FrankR

there latest cup hilder dosn't fit corectly? uh oh,...


89 posted on 05/27/2004 5:18:56 AM PDT by The_Royal_Navy (There's a whole universe out there just waiting to shoot u. Feel free to shoot back)
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To: FrankR

Hey, i heard ford's bringing the capri back :)

the mark 4 was shite, good job ford never sold it in Britain tho,...

Mustangs still strong in America tho, i take it?

But if they so much as even "THINK" about makeing a new capri that is not Rear wheel drive, they'll be just waisting there time.

Why dosn't anybody make 'PROPER' car's anymore?


90 posted on 05/27/2004 5:27:51 AM PDT by The_Royal_Navy (There's a whole universe out there just waiting to shoot u. Feel free to shoot back)
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To: N3WBI3
Then why did they not target Mozilla, or Netscape? They (for whatever reason) picked out Opera.. If you can not see this is a totally unethical (and by the way they have been found guilty of using illegal tactics to push their software in the past) and probably illegal attach on a competitor. If you cant see this was unethical then I am sorry for you and perhaps I am not the one letting my 'loyalty' to a certain set of software cloud my judgment.

What is this "targeted" bullsh*t? How do you know they did this intentionally? Opera is a tiny blip in the browser market. It poses no threat to IE. Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by error.
91 posted on 05/27/2004 10:07:31 AM PDT by Bush2000
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To: Bush2000
And yet a specific style sheet was put in for opera which broke the view. If opera used any other css (IE/NS/MOZ) or even the default sheet for a 'tiny blip in the browser market' it fully renderd all the content just fine.

So for some reason MS decided this 'tiny blip in the browser market' was important enough to create a specific sheet for? and this sheet just happened to be really broken (this shee would not render right under IE/NS/MZ or any other browser, so in creating this sheet did they not even test it in IE?

92 posted on 05/27/2004 11:02:17 AM PDT by N3WBI3
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To: N3WBI3
And yet a specific style sheet was put in for opera which broke the view. If opera used any other css (IE/NS/MOZ) or even the default sheet for a 'tiny blip in the browser market' it fully renderd all the content just fine. So for some reason MS decided this 'tiny blip in the browser market' was important enough to create a specific sheet for? and this sheet just happened to be really broken (this shee would not render right under IE/NS/MZ or any other browser, so in creating this sheet did they not even test it in IE?

Again, more speculation. Thanks for the conspiracy theories. Give my regards to Grassy Knoll.
93 posted on 05/27/2004 3:43:01 PM PDT by Bush2000
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To: Bush2000

Evidantly MS felt there was enough of a case to pay Opera off..


94 posted on 05/27/2004 3:46:55 PM PDT by N3WBI3
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To: N3WBI3
Evidantly MS felt there was enough of a case to pay Opera off..

Evidently, MS didn't want to waste money on more lawyers; hence, it made sense to settle.
95 posted on 05/27/2004 4:11:17 PM PDT by Bush2000
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Comment #96 Removed by Moderator

To: JMack

Mozilla is a whole package, browser, email, chat, composer, and it's also the base technology behind everything. Firefox is the browser component only. I'm actually not sure why Firefox is only .8, but it is a fully-functional stable browser. Maybe after Mozilla 1.7 is released (a stable point of the technology, which all other apps based on the tech will be built from), they'll finally take Firefox to 1.0.

Neither messes with your system, and if you want to install you can look in the documentation and find every file and registry key it wrote on installation in case an uninstall didn't go correctly.

I haven't used Opera in a while, but users I know love it.


97 posted on 05/28/2004 6:51:47 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: 1L
MS simply wrote a site that won't display using a browser they don't like. That's the market. Opera users can go to other sites, and if those don't work, they need to get another browser.

Using underhanded tactics or lies to disparage another's product in the marketplace is subject to a civil suit.

By purposely breaking Opera on a site visited by millions, Microsoft tried to make those users with Opera think their browser was broken, casting doubt on the functionality and usability of that browser, which can be incentive for people to switch to a more "compatible" browser, such as IE. Such action is bad enough, but coming from a convicted monopolist known for anticompetitive behavior is that much worse.

98 posted on 05/28/2004 7:02:30 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: Bush2000
It poses no threat to IE.

Actually, it does. Opera is growing rapidly in the browser market, while Microsoft considers Netscape/Mozilla dead. But what they really fear is that Opera gets credibility as a good browser because Opera is poised to be the browser of choice on handheld devices -- a market that Microsoft desperately wants.

99 posted on 05/28/2004 7:06:45 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: Bush2000
Again, more speculation. Thanks for the conspiracy theories.

I have to hand it to you. If nothing else, you're consistent. When the argument goes against you, you claim speculation and conspiracy, ignoring the whole context, and go skulk.

People actually did a test of this. To make sure style sheets and HTML were correct, they used wget to pull an MSN page with style sheet, setting the user-agent in the HTTP header to identify itself as Opera, IE and Netscape. They then analyzed the files that the server returned. Here were the results:

Basically, all MSN pages would have rendered perfectly on Opera if MS had just ignored the fact that Opera exists. But no, Microsoft purposely set up broken pages specifically for the Opera browser.
100 posted on 05/28/2004 7:21:40 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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