“A software superpower is declared a monopoly, free software
rakes in billions and money makes the world go round: The year in
tech.“
“Could there have been any bigger story in the tech world in
1999 than Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson’s definitive declaration on
Nov. 6 that Microsoft is a monopoly? Not likely, although Jackson’s
stronger-than-expected denunciation of Microsoft was considerably
watered down just a few weeks later, when he appointed a noted foe
of antitrust enforcement, Judge Richard Posner, as a mediator
between Bill Gates and the Department of Justice….”
“In 1999, free software — software for which the underlying
source code is by definition always publicly available and free —
became big business. Before Red Hat (the leading U.S. distributor
of packages of Linux-based operating systems) went public in
August, you could still dismiss the argument that there was money
to be made in free software as so much hype. You would have been
wrong, but at least you wouldn’t have been laughed out of
cyberspace.”