“Already there is evidence that Microsoft, under the glare of
renewed scrutiny by the government since 1998, has consciously
attempted to soften its hardball image. Gates is no longer chief
executive, stepping aside to design software. The company granted
unprecedented concessions to a few of the nation’s largest computer
makers to customize Windows software on machines they sell, and it
relaxed restrictive agreements with some Internet providers.”
“Some companies, including IBM and Dell Computer Corp.,
offer limited numbers of computers with rival Linux
software installed — an affront to Gates that few would have
risked years ago. Last month, Microsoft uncharacteristically
settled a private antitrust lawsuit in Utah and agreed to pay at
least $155 million.”
” ‘They have toned back their aggressive language,’ said Rob
Enderle, a longtime Microsoft expert at the Giga Information Group.
‘Microsoft always had been aggressive but almost uncontrollably so,
with behavior that even for a company like Microsoft would be seen
as unacceptably harsh. They needed to be reined in a bit, and the
trial has done that.’ “