Before we sat down to negotiate this degree, the government had subpoenaed documents that showed Microsoft had begun including integrated Internet technology into Windows 95 as early as the fall of 1993. |
Everyone can see that Microsoft does not live the quiet life of a so-called monopolist. |
The curtain is coming down on a feeble case presented by the government. In its rush to judgment, the government has failed to stop and learn about the benefits to customers, consumers of the innovation and the low prices that Microsoft has championed and made reality in the PC software marketplace today. |
The government has failed to show any harm to consumers as a result of Microsoft's activities. |
The matter before the court was whether Microsoft could be held in contempt for violating a consent decree entered in 1995. The court denied the Justice Department's petition for contempt; the case should have ended there. But on its own initiative, the court proceeded to treat the matter as a tying case and, without giving Microsoft notice or an opportunity to defend itself, issued a preliminary injunction. |
Their extreme request for relief invites questions on how they came to the observations and conclusions in their declarations. |
This matter is very near an appellate phase where Microsoft will challenge the procedures used, the findings of fact, the conclusions of law, and any remedy entered. We anticipate that we will prevail at the conclusion of the appellate process. |
This preliminary injunction threatens every American technology company's right to innovate and define what goes into its products. The ruling puts the government into the middle of complex product design issues in an industry that, for more than 20 years, has experienced incredible growth, innovation and competition - without government intervention. |
We are confident that the court will find we are in compliance with the consent decree. |
We believe that part of innovation has to be the integration of useful technology into new and improved products. |
We continue to be confident about our legal position. We think the law is very much on our side in all the major issues of this case. |
We have a working relationship with Netscape as an ISV [Internet service provider]. What we have is a poster-child example of how high-tech companies are negotiating. |
We were willing to explore ways in which [computer makers] might create more choices in browsing technology. There were a number of issues we thought were worthy of discussion, but the government would not engage us. We were there to solve a problem, and they were constantly asking for more. |
What really happened at the meeting was that Netscape was trying to draw a line around its market and resisted Microsoft to come into that marketplace. |