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RE[9]: Comment by shmerl
by Alfman on Sun 13th May 2012 00:15 UTC in reply to "RE[8]: Comment by shmerl"
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"As I said, one of the reasons Microsoft bailed out Apple was to keep it alive as competition so that it would be harder to argue that Microsoft had a monopoly. The DOJ got around that by narrowing the market to exclude Macs (which ran on PPC rather than x86 at the time)."

I'll believe you on the first part, the fall of apple could have made things worse for microsoft. But I don't think the second part has merit since even including linux & apple desktops wouldn't have changed microsoft's standing as a monopoly in the US.

"What 'existing monopoly' is Microsoft using? WinRT cannot run any Windows x86 app. It is not compatible with the Windows x86 OS. What, is it just hte name 'windows' that is the issue?"

Don't you think microsoft's monopoly has given it unique abilities to influence the ARM market? Focusing on just one instance...the EUFI secure boot fiasco is pretty clear cut in my opinion, and I predict the DOJ will get involved, but the trouble is they're a reactive body and won't step in until long after the damage is already done. Also, if it's anything like the last antitrust trial, it'll just be a slap on the hand.

Technically secure boot was very cleverly designed such that it's next to impossible to distribute keys to owners without also distributing them to hackers. Such flaws could have easily been fixed in the spec, and any engineer worth his salt could have done better, but I think it was a brilliant move by MS to make owner control over EUFI on a wide scale unpalatable. Now, even if the DOJ intervenes, it won't be able to force secure boot keys to be returned to the owners without suddenly compromising it.

I think it's plausible that microsoft has analyzed the cost/benefit ratios and could be knowingly violating antitrust law as a calculated risk. Hopefully for them this time the executives are wise enough not to leave trails to trace their guilt. Yep it's a serious allegation but I don't think MS is trustworthy enough to rule it out.

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