[SLUG] Alternative Microsoft Settlement Option?

From: Doc (e.net@verizon.net)
Date: Sat Jan 12 2002 - 00:00:00 EST


Microsoft has offered $1 Billion to America's schools in what they consider
to be a
reasonable restitution for what others have deemed the cost of its
anti-competitive
practices. I think we ought to accept that number ... but require a
different remedy.

Apple Computer, defending their own turf, rejects Microsoft's self-serving
suggestion
that they emulate Apple and flood the school systems with 200,000 non-Apple
PC's.

There is a third option that, in contrast to Microsoft and Apple, provides
for long-term
value of the donated computers and other hardware. Microsoft should donate
200,000
computers, with printers, networking hardware, and everything necessary to
connect
them -- but Linux should be installed on them.

The value of the hardware should be most of the $1b. Linux is free and will
remain such,
so the schools will have long-term usability of the hardware with free
operating system
and software upgrades. (Linux is more efficient with hardware resources so
the less-than-
cutting-edge PC's will retain their value for many years.)

A remainder of the $1b not spent on hardware would be placed in an
interest-bearing
scholarship fund made available to students and the college-age children of
members of
the community who donate their time to maintain the Linux systems.

This would represent a just resolve to Microsoft's effort to trash its
competitors without
enabling Microsoft to do more of the same as part of its restitution. I
think it is called
"poetic justice"?

Just a thought ... Doc in Florida

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Judge Rejects Proposed Microsoft Settlement in Class-Action Suit

Friday, January 11, 2002

 Email this Article

BALTIMORE - A federal judge Friday rejected Microsoft's offer to donate
computers
and software to schools to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing it of
overcharging for its
products.

U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz said the settlement is "critically
underfunded" and
would have anticompetitive effects on the market, especially on Microsoft
rival Apple
Computer.

Microsoft had offered to give software, 200,000 refurbished computers and
other resources
the company valued at $1 billion to the nation's poorest public schools.

Apple argued in December that the agreement would give Microsoft an unfair
advantage
by encouraging schools to acquire Microsoft products.

"The agreement raises legitimate questions since it appears to provide a
means for flooding
a part of the kindergarten through high school market in which Microsoft has
not traditionally
been the strongest player (particularly in relation to Apple) with Microsoft
software and
refurbished PCs," Motz wrote in a 21-page opinion.

Motz also said the "widely divergent views" between estimates of the value
of the claims
being settled prevented him from granting approval.

Microsoft had argued that it could be responsible for as little as $200
million, while some
economists for the plaintiffs estimated the company's liability to be
upwards of $18.9 billion.

Microsoft and some of the plaintiffs' attorneys agreed to the settlement in
November. But
other attorneys and educators -- notably lawyers for California
plaintiffs -- have opposed
the deal, arguing it would increase Microsoft's share in the education
market and not best
serve the neediest schools.

Meetings with a mediator to discuss possible changes to the settlement did
not produce
any results because some litigants were "too far away from what we
considered realistic,"
Microsoft lawyer David Tulchin said Friday.

The lawsuits, which began in 1999, are separate from antitrust suits brought
by states and
the federal government.

Microsoft lawyers argued the settlement would have helped close the "digital
divide"
between rich and poor students nationwide.

At a hearing last month, lawyers from California said the settlement did not
reflect the
needs and laws of different states. "There's too much diversity here," said
Daniel Furniss,
lead counsel for plaintiffs in California.

Calls Friday to Furniss' Palo Alto-based law firm -- Townsend, Townsend and
Crew --
were not immediately returned.

Shares of Microsoft fell 68 cents to $68.60 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.



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