Both Windows XP and Windows 2000 will be rendered inoperable, and Microsoft will be unable to develop future new operating systems, if it is forced to separate IE from the operating system, according to court filings the company made on Friday.
The US States still fighting Microsoft argue, on the contrary, that separation of this and other matters now "integrated" into the OS is both feasible and necessary.
Hence the appearance of serial expert witness Lee Hollaar, whose task it will be to provide the necessary techie data to 'prove' whether or not the disentanglement can be done. This time the company seems to be threatening to withdraw Windows from the market entirely, and not develop or ship it ever again.
In the past, Microsft argued that IE could not be removed from the OS, but after Professor Ed Felten proved this (and caught Microsoft falsifying a video 'proving' that it didn't work), it seemed equally clear that IE could be removed from Win9x if Microsoft wanted to do it, and that the Microsoft versus Hollaar argument will initially reprise the Felten row. However, this time around we'll be talking about Windows 2000 and WinXP as well, and that widens the battlefield quite a bit.
Microsoft has had a lot more time to build IE deeper into its latest versions of Windows, and if we're being charitable we might even say it's put a lot more IE-related functionality into the OS, which would break if IE were removed.
If we were being uncharitable we could say that much of this functionality is IE-dependent precisely because the High Command required that it be so - it could have been done by alternative means, and any vast recoding problems caused by removal are therefore self-inflicted.
News source: The Register
The US States still fighting Microsoft argue, on the contrary, that separation of this and other matters now "integrated" into the OS is both feasible and necessary.
Hence the appearance of serial expert witness Lee Hollaar, whose task it will be to provide the necessary techie data to 'prove' whether or not the disentanglement can be done. This time the company seems to be threatening to withdraw Windows from the market entirely, and not develop or ship it ever again.
In the past, Microsft argued that IE could not be removed from the OS, but after Professor Ed Felten proved this (and caught Microsoft falsifying a video 'proving' that it didn't work), it seemed equally clear that IE could be removed from Win9x if Microsoft wanted to do it, and that the Microsoft versus Hollaar argument will initially reprise the Felten row. However, this time around we'll be talking about Windows 2000 and WinXP as well, and that widens the battlefield quite a bit.
Microsoft has had a lot more time to build IE deeper into its latest versions of Windows, and if we're being charitable we might even say it's put a lot more IE-related functionality into the OS, which would break if IE were removed.
If we were being uncharitable we could say that much of this functionality is IE-dependent precisely because the High Command required that it be so - it could have been done by alternative means, and any vast recoding problems caused by removal are therefore self-inflicted.
News source: The Register
Microsoft is betting billions of dollars that the Xbox will be able carve out a significant chunk of the video game market.
Japan's gaming public is notoriously fickle, and Microsoft has made special efforts to cater to the market here with a specially designed, smaller controller and a limited edition of 50,000 translucent Xbox consoles available only in Japan.
Takahashi said Microsoft had received 243 calls about the scratched discs by Sunday evening and that gamers in the United States had also reported similar problems.
Although Microsoft has not published official figures, numerous sources said it was able to ship about 125,000 Xbox consoles in the first three days since the Xbox went on sale on Feb. 22.
Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, said during a visit to Tokyo that 250,000 consoles had been prepared for the crucial Japan launch.
Microsoft needs to score a success with gamers in Japan to convince the country's game publishers to create titles for the Xbox. This is critical to the machine's long-term success because software sales generate lucrative royalties.
Electronics contract manufacturer Flextronics International is the maker of Xbox consoles for North America and Europe at factories in Hungary and Mexico.
Microsoft Japan's managing director, Hirohisa Ohura, said last month that Xbox consoles for Japan would initially be shipped from Mexico, but that Microsoft was seeking a production base in Asia.
Contract manufacturer Solectron said this month that it had won a contract to repair Xbox machines in Asia.
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