Judge: Microsoft's music player gaffe is 'concern'

Cnet ^ | 10/26/2005 | Anne Broache

[Panerai]

WASHINGTON--A federal judge scolded Microsoft on Wednesday for devising a marketing plan that would have forced portable-music player makers to package only Windows Media Player with their products.

"It seems to me that at this date, you should not be having something like this occur," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said at a status conference here, adding that she found the issue "one of concern."

As previously reported by CNET News.com, a recent federal court filing revealed that Microsoft initially drafted a marketing agreement with language indicating that manufacturers that signed on would be barred from supplying software other than the Windows product.

The company took quick steps to fix the agreement and never sent it out to manufacturers, as noted by the filing and U.S. Department of Justice attorneys at Wednesday's conference. An attorney for Microsoft, Charles Rule, said Microsoft regretted the mistake and that "a low-level business person" who was not fully aware of Microsoft's mandate was responsible.

Overall, attorneys on Wednesday said they were pleased with Microsoft's progress in complying with a consent decree the company entered into with the Bush administration in 2002 to settle a long-running antitrust suit.

Besides the music player document, much of the conference centered on one "bone of contention," in the words of attorney Stephen Houck, who was representing the group of California plaintiffs. Microsoft is "way off schedule" on one piece of its plan to provide more accurate and complete technical documentation to developers who license its communication protocol, Houck said.

[clee1]

I'm giving 10-to-1 odds that U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a Demoncrap-appointed liberal activist.

Any takers?

[Last Dakotan]

I noticed how Micro$oft's hot new game, Age of Empires III, only can be played with XP. Which of course is conveniently sold in the same cardboard showcases as the game in stores.

[RussP]

I don't give a darn who appointed her. She's doing her job well on this one at least. If you think MS should be left free to control all mass-media computer formats just because they have the power, you are very confused about free markets.

[drlevy88]

"a low-level business person" who was not fully aware of Microsoft's mandate was responsible

Fool me once M$ shame on you. Fool me twice M$ shame on me.

[clee1]

Woah, FRiend.

You'll not find ANYONE that likes MicroShizzle LESS that I do. They make crap products, and are worse than the FedGov when it comes to spying on people.

Having said that, I don't like judges issuing touchy-feely rulings, either. The free market will decide MS's power - not MS or a liberal judge, for that matter.

[RussP]

"The free market will decide MS's power - not MS or a liberal judge, for that matter."

Unfortunately, I'm not so sure about that. The problem is that MS derives its power not from the quality of its products (which you seem to recognize), but rather from the fact that it owns de facto standards and refuses to cooperate with open standards. This is an absolutely ridiculous situation, and it must end. The free market by itself does not seem to be working very well here because "consumers" don't seem to understand the implications of maintaining their documents under a proprietary standard.

Anyway, I gotta go.