Computer maker Tangent has filed a federal antitrust suit against Microsoft, accusing the software maker of anticompetitive behavior that forced it to overpay for the Windows operating system.
The suit, filed last week in the Northern District of California, charges Microsoft with violating the Sherman Act and seeks to recover triple damages from the software maker.
"Microsoft's exclusionary and restrictive practices...have caused significant harm to (Tangent) by increasing, maintaining or stabilizing the price it paid for Microsoft's operating system software above competitive levels," Tangent said in its suit. Tangent, based in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame, makes computers, servers and thin clients, primarily for the education, government and business markets.
News source: C|Net News.com
The suit, filed last week in the Northern District of California, charges Microsoft with violating the Sherman Act and seeks to recover triple damages from the software maker.
"Microsoft's exclusionary and restrictive practices...have caused significant harm to (Tangent) by increasing, maintaining or stabilizing the price it paid for Microsoft's operating system software above competitive levels," Tangent said in its suit. Tangent, based in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame, makes computers, servers and thin clients, primarily for the education, government and business markets.
News source: C|Net News.com
But, using your example, let's show how this can adversely affect a company:
- Microsoft has 10 OEM customers it licenses Windows to, OEMs A, B, C,... J.
- OEMs A-I are given preferential pricing for their compliance in other acts, like not pre-installing Firefox/Opera, or not offering Linux systems.
- OEM J offers customers a choice in default browsers, and has systems with Opera pre-installed for sale.
- Microsoft's hackles are raised, so they now price Windows at near list price to OEM J.
- OEM J is no longer able to sell PCs at prices that compete with A-I, and sales drop.
- OEM J has reduced profits, and stock prices also drop, making the business much less valuable.
Just as an example.~
There are valid reasons for price differences. And there are invalid ones. As no real information is out on this, we just don't know enough about this situation to make any good opinions yet.
(not that it has stopped people here from concluding that this must be a "litigation lottery" thing) :sigh:
So what are they complaining about, that MS changes too much or too little for Windows??? Either way this sounds pretty stupid.
So I figured why not? I'll save everybody a great deal of hassle by simply informing Microsoft's lawyers that I plan to sue them in the future to rescue me from my own incompetence, and that it should go ahead and send me the money now.
My only problem is figuring out how much to ask for. Waddya think? $5 million? $10 million?
Hmmm...I guess I better ask for a couple of million more to compensate me for all the pain and suffering I'm going through trying to come up with the right amount to ask for.
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