Word: microsoft
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Java is wholly owned, licensed and developed by Scott McNealy's Sun Microsystems, which just happens to be Bill Gates' nemesis. Microsoft and Sun had a little falling out a few years back when Microsoft tried to create what became known as a "polluted" version of Java, or one that Microsoft hoped it would soon be able to license itself (and leverage its Windows/Explorer monopoly in the hope of making programmers sign up for it). Not surprisingly, McNealy took Gates to court. The latter lost, and it cost the world's richest man a cool $20 million...
...scramble for the deinstall button when it caused a dozen different conflicts. But this time, after 24 hours of tweaking, it worked. I finally had a stable Windows environment that refused to crash on me. I was just ogling the cool blue taskbar and gorgeous 3D icons the afternoon Microsoft announced - very, very quietly - that there would be no Java support built into XP. When the final version is launched, if you really truly want to use Java you'll have to go to Microsoft.com, download a patch and alter the security settings of Explorer. Not too difficult for true...
...credit, until I visited Sun's Java page - and sure enough, the spinning test molecule was not there. Okay, so Java won't become the default cross-platform operating system McNealy envisioned any time soon, but we're still talking a great big chunk of the web. How does Microsoft hope to get away with this...
...doubt Redmond hopes in this case, as with so much else, that the world will simply revolve around it. Webmasters will notice the sudden disappearance of Java support, and quickly ditch the jewel in Sun's crown and start using XML, which forms the basis of Microsoft's .Net software. Much the same thing is happening with the XP version of Windows Media Player, which Microsoft has just announced will support the MP3 format - as long as you download a plug-in and pay an extra $15 for the privilege, that is. Otherwise, all your WMP digital music will...
...biggest lesson of all from the GE case is this one: soon, something like it will happen again. The Commission in Brussels is currently engaged in three investigations of Microsoft, one of them driven by an American competitor, Sun Microsystems. Monti's staff is looking at the behavior of chipmaker Intel, at the behest of one competitor from the U.S. and one from Taiwan. U.S. regulators will review Switzerland-based Nestle's purchase of Ralston Purina, which would consolidate more than 50% of the $3 billion U.S. cat-food market. For now, the only antitrust authorities that really matter...