“The exact wording is: “Microsoft cannot undertake such a risky
venture [developing NGWS], which will cost more in constant-dollar
terms than Boeing’s development of the 747 or NASA’s first mission
to the moon, unless Microsoft can call upon all of the company’s
resources in seeking to make it a success. Those resources include
people and technologies on both sides of the bright line the
government seeks to draw through Microsoft’s tightly knit
organisation.” Microsoft then goes on to claim that: “Consumers
will suffer if Microsoft no longer has the ability to undertake
ambitious projects like Next Generation Windows Services, which (if
successful) promises to transform the way in which consumers use
the Internet, to the benefit of the entire economy.”
“This was contained in a brief entitled “Defendant Microsoft
Corporation’s summary response to plaintiffs’ proposed final
judgment” which Microsoft chose not to publish at the same time as
the other five documents that we previously considered, although it
was filed with the Court at the same time. The most likely
explanation is that Microsoft did not want this one discussed too
widely in the media, because of the wild statements in it. On the
whole it adds up to being Microsoft’s ranting and raving response
to the DoJ proposed remedies, and it looks as though it was
produced more as a cheerleaders’ manual for faithful Microsoft
supporters rather than for judicial purposes – but Microsoft may be
numbering the judges of the Court of Appeals amongst its
supporters.”
“But the threat to NGWS probably is real. The radical
plan to evolve Windows into an all-encompassing Internet services
platform is due to have some flesh put on its bones at the
beginning of next month, but from what’s known already it seems
pretty clear NGWS will further blur, possibly even abolish, the
lines between OS and app, and that much of it will fall into the
judge’s definition of middleware. Microsoft argues that NGWS is
innovation, while the judge and the government are more likely to
see it as the mother of all antitrust violations. So blocking
NGWS, from the government’s point of view, would be a good
thing.”