Testimony of Red Hat CEO Matt Szulik before the US Senate, Dec 13, 2001

Open source software arose because of a lack of alternatives that allowed the individual to choose the best tool for the job. Over the past 5 years, projects created by Red Hat and the open source community have become solutions of choice in areas of standards-based Internet software development, areas that the monopolist does not yet control.

The growth of the Linux operating system is an example of this acceptance. The Apache web server is another, it now holds a market-leading position.

The document , called "Why Microsoft Windows XP Embedded and Not Embedded Linux?", outlines what it calls the shortcomings of Linux for embedded devices. It describes the operating system as convoluted, difficult to develop for, expensive and insecure.

But if Microsoft did in fact commit antitrust violations and consumers were hurt, that $90 million, along with the rest of the money involved, is not for the foundation or Judge Motz to give. The whole thing looks like a scam hiding behind good intentions--but Your Honor, what about the kids?

However, with Microsoft ramping up its efforts to legitimise software and curb the rampant piracy problem in the region - most notably by recently convincing four major PC makers to bundle legal versions of Windows XP in their consumer PCs - Linux could improve its position in the market.

One sensible way to save the government money would be to move as much of the government's non-desktop systems over to Linux and other free software products. (It looks like www.whitehouse.gov is already running Linux; good for them.) You'd end up with a more secure system for every server that switched away from Microsoft's "solution" -- and though you might need more hardware if you were switching from more powerful Sun boxes, hardware is cheap and getting cheaper. Windows is the only part of the computer likely to go up in price any time soon.

Microsoft is nearing an unusual, billion-dollar deal that would settle a raft of private antitrust cases against the company, sources close to the case said on Tuesday.

Microsoft, which agreed to settle its separate 3-year-old case with the Justice Department earlier this month, is hatching an agreement with class action attorneys that would require the company to provide free software and computers to more than 14,000 of the poorest U.S. schools over five years.

However, the deal also has some upside for Microsoft: It would provide a big public relations boost for Microsoft and help promote the company's software in public schools, sources said.

In a 68-page court filing Thursday, the Justice Department formally defended its choices in the landmark settlement it negotiated between Microsoft and nine states. The government assured the judge the settlement, if approved by the court, would "eliminate Microsoft's illegal practices, prevent recurrence of the same or similar practices and restore the competitive threat" the company faces from rivals.

Let's see. What would, a year ago, have been referred to as "next-generation Windows software"? Why, it's XP! What CSIS is saying, without coming right out and saying it, is that there could be all sorts of back doors inserted into the XP code without anyone beyond the cracker, least of all Microsoft, knowing about it. What they're also saying, and this time they do come right out and say it, is that Microsoft's software is therefore a national security risk

It's a fact that Microsoft made a deal with the U.S. government. No theorizing necessary there. The deal was announced. Ashcroft spoke. Gates spoke. We all know it happened.

The fat period is over. Microsoft had a lot of power to offer to the government. The government has been granted new electronic surveillance power by Congress. Now how do they implement it? Microsoft can help. I'm not so naive to believe this was an arms-length deal. I'm certain there are aspects to the partnership between Microsoft and the U.S. government that we can't see.

The overall acceptance of Microsoft's limits on the sharing of technical information to the broader public is an important and in our view core flaw in the proposed agreement. The agreement should require that this information be as freely available as possible, with a high burden on Microsoft to justify secrecy. Indeed, there is ample evidence that Microsoft is focused on strategies to cripple the free software movement, which it publicly considers an important competitive threat. This is particularly true for software developed under the GNU Public License (GPL), which is used in GNU/Linux, the most important rival to Microsoft in the server market.

Ballmer also revealed that he's trying to modify the legendary cutthroat culture within Microsoft. While the company will continue to prize individual achievement, he said he wants employees to be more aware of how their actions affect the entire business. Not only should they be passionate about technology, but they should also be passionate about how consumers use that technology.

There are no two ways about it: The settlement that the United States Department of Justice reached last week with Microsoft Corporation is only barely better than the one the parties reached in 1995. Microsoft, adjudged guilty of essentially hijacking the software industry, has agreed not to do it anymore unless it wants to

For the government, the fight against Microsoft seems paltry now in light of its much more significant fight against terrorism. The Justice Department -- overworked, undermanned and under the gun -- simply has better things to do with its time and energy than fight against an American company.

The settlement will be filed this morning with the federal judge in the case and must get her final approval. The 18 states that were the department partner's in the 3-year lawsuit have not agreed to the deal and will go into court this morning asking for more time to review the terms.

Microsoft Corp. and the Justice Department reached a tentative agreement Wednesday to settle the historic antitrust case against the software giant, and state attorneys general were reviewing terms of the deal, people familiar with the talks told The Associated Press.

As eWeek Senior Editor Peter Galli has reported over the past several weeks, many IT administrators are either not planning to upgrade to the new Microsoft products or looking to switch to less expensive products—a direct result of the licensing plans, they said.

If new software is needed, but not the costs or headaches of dealing with the new Microsoft licenses, some are taking renewed looks at Linux and Sun's StarOffice desktop productivity suite. Sun notes that users downloaded the latest beta of StarOffice in record numbers since it debuted earlier this month.

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday rejected Microsoft Corp.'s request to overturn an earlier ruling that the software giant violated U.S. antitrust laws.

The high court declined without any comment or dissent to review the June 28 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which concluded that Microsoft had illegally maintained its monopoly over the market for personal computer operating systems.

Rose Holman thought the $27,000 she budgeted for computer services would take care of Stillwater's needs for a few years. But a closer look at the new software licensing plan from Microsoft Corp. took her breath away. Holman, Stillwater's computer specialist, discovered the plan's requirements could cost the city an unexpected $77,000 next year in new hardware and Microsoft software.

The new licensing program discontinued the most popular means by which businesses buy Microsoft software for desktops and back-end computer operations. Under the new programs, customers don't simply buy software and worry about upgrades in the future. Instead, they are placed in a program that commits them to upgrading every two years. According to market researcher Gartner, the program will raise prices anywhere from 33 percent to 100 percent. Microsoft has also peppered the contract with contingencies that get customers to switch to the new maintenance deals sooner rather than later.

Influential IT users in the UK are putting pressure on the government to launch an inquiry into Microsoft's new licensing schemes. They allege the software giant is guilty of exploiting its dominant market position to force its customers to accept steep price increases.

Despite growing protest, Microsoft has insisted that the changes will go ahead, leading some IT managers to consider a ban on buying new Microsoft software.

IT managers themselves said the new licensing scheme might put them off buying from Microsoft in future. "We have no budget to sign up for Microsoft's new scheme. I'm hoping to get a Linux server in the door and maybe we'll be able to say goodbye to Microsoft," said the IT manager of an international recruitment firm. Another said that if the schemes resulted in too much expense and inconvenience, his company would "think twice about Microsoft".

It has been a very mixed month for Microsoft. Although the top line figures appear to present steady growth in adoption of Microsoft-IIS, this masks some significant events.

But that's nothing compared to Microsoft Arrogance XP Professional Edition--a full-strength version, and then some. From October 1st, corporate licence holders will upgrade when Microsoft tells them to, not when they want. They either pay an annual fee for a two-year maintenance contract, or pay list price for upgrades. Or they don't have a license--and don't think that Microsoft has any compunction about letting people know about the consequences there. Just to make it an offer you can't refuse, existing options, which included a four-year upgrade cycle, have been withdrawn--people who were on that will pay between 68 and 107 percent more than before, according to the Gartner Group.

Of course, businesses are furious. But the company is unmoved, saying that everyone has choice and that the changes help people get "the latest and greatest from Microsoft in a predictable way." Perhaps people didn't find it difficult in the past to get upgrades when they wanted them, but Microsoft isn't listening. It doesn't have to listen.

The federal judge presiding over the next phase of Microsoft's antitrust case Friday ordered the software maker and the U.S. Justice Department into five weeks of intensive settlement talks.

During their first appearance before U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, she told attorneys for Microsoft and the Justice Department that now is an "optimal time" to settle the case out of court and that they could strike a deal "if everybody is reasonable and acting in good faith."

Last week's shock decision by the US Department of Justice to can the antitrust case against Microsoft has angered a number of state attorneys general, who have been battling the software giant side-by-side with the DoJ.

Both Californian Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Elliot Spitzer from New York said that they might pursue their own sanctions if the Justice Department gives Microsoft an easy ride. The duo said Friday they would "press for remedies that go beyond those requested by the Department of Justice" if necessary.

What's next in the history of US v. Microsoft? Much sterile legal maneuvering leading to a settlement that will leave Gates's empire unchained and undiminished. But only temporarily. The best software in the world continues to be free. Free as in free speech: free to use, free to copy, free to modify. As users learn what free software can do, manufacturers won't need Gates any more. If you're a capitalist and you have the very best goods, and they're free, you don't have to proselytize---you just have to wait. Thanks to the venality of politics in America, Microsoft is riding high right now, but it is headed for the boneyard after all.

In the old days corporations were wary of Linux because it was difficult to install and came without technical support. But now installing current Red Hat or Mandrake distributions of Linux is easier than installing Windows 2000. You can now even buy machines with Linux pre-installed -and comprehensive after-sales support - from companies like Hewlett Packard and IBM.

The Justice Department announced Thursday that it no longer is interested in seeking a court-ordered breakup of software giant Microsoft. The Bush administration is gearing up for the penalty phase of the continuing antitrust case against the software giant later this month.

For some in the open source community, the forces of software development have come to resemble the age-old paradox of Yin and Yang, which states that light does not exist without dark and there is no good without evil.

According to luminaries who subscribe to this philosophy, and who spoke about it last week in San Francisco at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo, the mere presence of Microsoft Corp. has played a big role in the development of the Linux operating system and other open-source projects. Indeed, for some there could be no Linux without Microsoft.

The Justice Department urged the Supreme Court on Friday to reject Microsoft's request for review of the antitrust case against the computer software giant.

The software manufacturer argues that the case is "ripe" for the high court's review, "but Microsoft offers no satisfactory explanation of why that is so," states the 26-page Justice Department filing.

Microsoft has spent a lot of time attacking Linux recently, but the company has learned and benefited from the rival operating system. Linux's success in low-end servers led the company to revise its server product line, said Doug Miller, director of competitive strategy for Microsoft's Windows division. And Microsoft learned that it needs better interactions with the programmers who use Microsoft products.

Letters purportedly written by at least two dead people landed on the desk of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff earlier this year, imploring him to go easy on Microsoft for its conduct as a monopoly.

State law-enforcement officials became suspicious after noticing that the same sentences appear in the letters and that some return addresses appeared invalid.

A federal appeals court Friday refused to delay the government's case against Microsoft, clearing the way for a new judge to decide what penalty the software giant should face for antitrust violations.

Microsoft said that if the appeals court didn't put the case on hold, it would jeopardize public faith in the judicial system. The appeals court unanimously disagreed.

I remember reading a while back that Sun's Scott McNealy said that users just needed a good text editor. Since adopting Linux for my daily chores, I have to agree with him. I've tried every editor in the Linux world and have settled on NEdit for my text editing needs.

Open-source critics of Microsoft said the company would have the opportunity to strangle an open-source project by demanding a licensing fee and royalty payments each time an open-source version of its patent was implemented. They fear developers will flock to the new initiative, code-named Project Mono, only to find themselves trapped in payments to Microsoft later. A requirement for a volunteer developer group to pay license fees or royalties would be enough to end many open source projects, its advocates said.

An appeals court refused on Thursday to reconsider its decision that Microsoft illegally mingled its Windows operating system and Internet browser, handing the software giant a setback in its four-year antitrust battle with the government

"This shared-source thing has nothing to do with building community outside of Microsoft," Red Hat Chief Technology Officer Michael Tiemann said in a speech immediately after Mundie's. "It is not so much a license, I think, as it is a treaty crafted by executives trying to buy time while they quiet the internal rebellion that is Microsoft's own civil war."

Anthony Rumble, managing director of Linux reseller Everything Linux, is offering PC for Kids -- a charity threatened with legal action by Microsoft over hard-disk loading obsolete copies of its software -- assistance with loading free Linux software onto their PCs.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings in September into Microsoft's business practices that are the subject of a 4-year-old antitrust case against the company.

Sydney free software distributor and trainer Everything Linux has pledged to support a Geelong children's charity whose work Microsoft halted last week for distributing PCs with obsolete copies of its software. Everything Linux founder Anthony Rumble said he would donate Red Hat Linux and Sun Microsystems' StarOffice so the charity could continue its work.

The worm has compromised more than 100,000 English-language servers running Microsoft's Web server software as of late Thursday. In addition, each of those infected computers are expected to flood the Whitehouse.gov address with data starting at 5 p.m. PDT, according to an analysis by network-protection company eEye Digital Security.

The Justice Department and 18 states have until Aug. 3 to respond to Microsoft's request for rehearing on one section of the appeals court decision. Microsoft filed its petition Wednesday.

Microsoft has been gifted with a rare opportunity to show that it's learned something from its long antitrust battle. I'm not talking about the breakup reprieve issued recently by the U.S. Court of Appeals. I'm talking about last week's news that two key players in the open-source software movement -- the Free Software Foundation and Ximian Inc. -- plan to develop Windows-compatible .Net development tools for open-source platforms including Linux.

The Justice Department won't appeal the the Microsoft antitrust ruling to the Supreme Court. Instead, the department has asked a federal appeals court to expedite the return of the case to a lower court.

Microsoft controls more than 90 percent of the desktop operating system marketplace. It has been shown that the company used its dominance of the market to bully vendors into acquiescing, since vendors thought they had no alternative to Microsoft's desktop products.

In a dramatic shift, Microsoft will allow PC makers to remove Internet Explorer icons and entries from the Start menu and provide the ability to remove user access to Internet Explorer in the new Windows XP. The company also will extend this to Windows 98, Windows Me and Windows 2000.

Microsoft's licensing changes come as some state attorneys general have raised concerns about Windows XP, the new version of the operating system, which could become the focal point of future proceedings in Microsoft's antitrust case. In late June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously ruled that Microsoft had illegally maintained a monopoly in Intel-based operating systems

When businesses ready to delete Microsoft Windows buy a new computer, Bill Gates & Co. have sold a license, but lost revenue from software sales and technical support

"Back in early '97, it was with great dismay that I heard rumors suggesting Microsoft's intentions to split the Web into two tiers -- one for rich corporations and another for "the rest." However, one of the wonderful things about the Web is that, by its nature, it has to function so that everyone has a nearly equal opportunity of exposure, without regard to how much each person has in the bank. Fortunately, Microsoft's plans came to naught -- the resilience of the Web infrastructure proved itself. How fortunate are we that the basic architecture of the Web was wrought without any assistance from a software behemoth."

Motor giant Ford's European arm is planning to ditch Microsoft as its desktop operating systems provider and move to an open source model, according to its European head of IT. In an exclusive interview with silicon.com conducted at the IT Director's Forum, Richard Thwaite, director of IT and ebusiness infrastructure for Ford Europe, said an open source desktop was his goal.

Another group is trying to change the basic ground rules of the computing world. Among these are advocates of “open source” computing, which offers high-quality, free software like the Linux operating system to compete with Microsoft’s for-pay programs.

These entrepreneurs paint a picture of a technology marketplace in which competition is alive and well and where innovation is flourishing. And many claim Microsoft is growing bloated and sluggish, and thus increasingly less effective in new and emerging markets.

"Microsoft has identified Linux as its potential competitor and is attempting to limit its use," said Albert Foer, an attorney and president of the American Antitrust Institute, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit group that acts as watchdog for competitive factors in the American economy. "Microsoft seems to be going ahead as if antitrust doesn't exist and won't affect them." Language included in a license that labels open source code as "potentially viral" marked a stepped-up attack by the software giant.

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