Microsoft Settles Another Score; It's Amazing What A Little Cash Will Do
from the today,-we-settle-all... dept
It must be nice to have billions and billions of dollars in cash. It lets you settle all sorts of complaints without really impacting too much. Last year, Microsoft got long term enemy Sun to go away (mostly) quietly by handing over $2 billion. Comparatively, it looks like Microsoft got off lightly with IBM, who they only have to pay $775 million to in order to settle all claims. Back during the antitrust trial, people liked to compare Microsoft's negotiating tactics to the movie The Godfather. The difference, though, is that when Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer decide to "settle all the family's business" they just open up their wallet.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]