Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Microsoft doesn't know how to win for losing ...

Author:Russell Lipton
Posted:6/15/2000; 5:01:57 PM
Topic:Microsoft doesn't know how to win for losing ...
Msg #:17828
Prev/Next:17827 / 17829

Call me Ishmael or maybe just call me dumb.

I don't believe the government wants this to be resolved in court. Just as Microsoft risks a terrible final loss, the government also risks turning a big initial win into a loss. Too many wild cards.

As many of us have pointed out, the real problem is Microsoft's own internal blindness, both to what they have done and what can still be done to recover from what they have done.

It's not really that complex, IMHO -

1. Admit the wrongdoing, in specifics. No more stonewalling.

2. Commit to the fundamental open-market practices, in specifics, that the government wants - and any company should engage in.

3. Divest the browser business to an "open" Web consortium effort. This is no easy matter since it is entwined with everything intra Microsoft but sometimes life is hard.

4. Continue making obscene profits for years to come with everything else (including profits generated from mapping cleverly to the consortium's products).

Item 3. above addresses both much of the substance as well as the PR of the whole thing (viz. Netscape). It also enables Microsoft to co-opt a bit of the "open source" buzz, however undeservedly. Microsoft will still have mucho input from sheer market size into browser-and-related Net evolution.

What Microsoft loses here is the oppy to control from inside the emerging specs for the dozens of different browsable devices now emerging (from desktops to ebooks to refrigerators).

What they win is obvious.

Since the mea culpas would depend on .gov agreeing to a settlement, the humble pie is only a risk to Bill Gates' (and the culture's) neurotic sense of entitlement.

For someone renowned for knowing how to get a victory no matter what, Gates seems not to know here how to win for losing ..... because even if they win in court, they will discover that the vastly increased enmity which results from that across the industry will never go away. Ever.

aka HeadDuffer
duffereditthispage.com

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