Caldera
Q & A regarding the Settlement of the Caldera vs. Microsoft Antitrust
Lawsuit Jan 10, 2000
Q: I thought Caldera
filed the case based on principles (or to change behavior), not just
to collect money. What did you accomplish?
A: We actually believe that we accomplished several things during
this process.
1. We led out on the recent series of investigations into Microsoft's
business practices. When we filed our case in July 1996, no other private
company or government agency was publicly investigating Microsoft's
monopoly-related behavior. Netscape, SUN, Bristol, the DOJıs recent
case, and several class action suits all followed our filing.
2. We told the story. Many new facts regarding Microsoft's business
conduct were made public during the lengthy pre-trial period of our
case.
3. We stood up against them. We believe that our actions will have a
deterring effect against future misconduct. We have demonstrated that
it is possible to successfully file a lawsuit against Microsoft and
have a positive result.
4. We helped to brand Linux as a legitimate competitor to Windows. Our
lawsuit, combined with the governmentıs case, helped publicize and legitimize
the Linux brand. We believe that as a result of these lawsuits, Caldera
Systems, Lineo and other Linux companies are stronger competitors to
Microsoft, now and in the future.
Q: What remains to be done?
A: The biggest impediment to Linux becoming mainstream on the
desktop is a viable office suite. Microsoft currently controls more
than 90 percent of the office suite business and yet refuses to port
its office suite to Linux. We encourage Microsoft, in the spirit of
co-opetition, to support Linux with its application products. We also
encourage application vendors universally to do the same.
In the separate and distinct embedded market, Lineo has introduced a
set of embedded Linux products that staves off Microsoft in the embedded
space, where they currently do not have a dominant position. Lineoıs
efforts with embedded Linux are creating a substantial competitor to
future embedded products by Microsoft. Several key embedded Linux initiatives
and products will be announced later this month and in February.
Q: What about Ray Noorda?
A: Ray Noorda is truly one of the giants of this industry. He
is the father of the technology industry in Utah. At age 75, he is still
starting new companies, creating new jobs and providing new solutions
to customers. Ray has fought on where many would have given up. He deserves
enormous credit for his efforts to encourage and create a competitive
environment across the software industry.
Q: How does this outcome effect the DOJ case?
A: There is no direct correlation between our case and the DOJ
case.
