The Register: MS’ Penalties for Selling Linux–Not Punishment, As Such

“Massachusetts, pursuing its lonely appeal against the Microsoft
antitrust settlement, says it is looking into whether the company
has punished a computer maker for promoting Linux, and is thus in
breach of the settlement. One might observe that the Microsoft-DoJ
deal was so liberal from the company’s point of view that it would
surely take a great deal of thought and effort to be in breach of
it, but we have, largely, been here before.

“And in all probability, anything Massachusetts does smoke out
in the way of a case will run into the sand, as happened the last
time. Massachusetts says that Microsoft may have retaliated against
the unnamed company for its activities in pushing Linux, but what
is retaliation? In a nice tidy and simple world it involves
something absolutely clear-cut such as a threat to kill your
firstborn, burn your house down, or nailing a dead cat to your
door. Trust me on this, Massachusetts will find no dead cats,
smoking or otherwise, because in the wonderful world of Microsoft
OEM sales it is much more complex; there may be something that you
and I might think of as pretty close to ‘retaliatory action,’ but
it will not be something that Microsoft’s lawyers will find
themselves unable to argue a case for…”

Complete
Story