Tag archive: Brad Smith

Last year Microsoft was fined $1.4 billion for anti-competitive practises, and the company can’t bundle Internet Explorer with its new Windows 7 OS in Europe, meaning users would need to install their own browser. But it thinks it might have a solution to satisfy everyone. It’s proposed having a drop-down list of potential browsers that will appear upon install of the OS, letting users "easily install competing web… Read More

On Tuesday Microsoft’s general counsel, Brad Smith, was talking to a Congressional hearing about anti-trust. But he wasn’t on the defensive. Instead he was speaking about the Yahoo-Google ad deal. It would, he claimed, damage the market. "Never before in the history of advertising has one company been in the position to control prices on up to 90 percent of advertising in a single medium," Smith said. "If… Read More

It looks like a typical USB thumb drive, but under the hood there’s a lot more going on. Microsoft has built these items specially for police forces, andinside that mild-mannered exterior, it contains a few super powers.   Called the Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, it has over 150 commands, including the ability to check surfinghistory, decrypt some passwords, log hard drive activity and map hard drives – all… Read More

In a surprise move on Thursday, Microsoft sent out word to the press to prepare for a “significant” morning announcement via teleconference. Although the release did not include details on what the surprise announcement would address, it did rule out the possibility that it would be related to Microsoft’s recent failed bid to acquire Yahoo. Attendees will include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, chief software architect Ray… Read More

In an ironic twist, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday in opposition to the proposed merger between Internet titan Google and online advertising giant DoubleClick. The proposed deal is facing antitrust scrutiny as competition heats up in the Internet advertising arena. While acknowledging the industry is very fluid with companies like Yahoo, AOL, and even Microsoft (which just paid… Read More

Back in 2001, Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement in the government's antitrust case against the Redmond software giant. Although many industry watchers felt that Microsoft had gotten off easy, the settlement did find the company had abused monopoly power in the computer software marketplace, and subjected the company to federal scrutiny and regulation. Key elements of that agreement are set to expire on… Read More

Working together, the FBI and authorities in the People’s Republic of China have broken a major pirate software ring, bagging more than half a million dollars’ worth of counterfeit software.   The joint operation, code-named Summer Solstice, and the largest of its kind, began in 2005. It’s resulted in the arrest of 25 people, the seizure of Chinese assets worth $7 million, and the seizure of 290,000 counterfeit software… Read More

Reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times indicate that Google has filed formal complaints with the Department of Justice and several states' attorneys general alleging that Vista Desktop Search violates Microsoft's existing antitrust settlement, limits consumer choices, and is yet another example of Microsoft leveraging its operating systems monopoly to engage in anticompetitive behavior. At dispute is Vista… Read More

In an interview with Fortune magazine (available online via the CNN Web site) Microsoft's VP of intellectual property Horacio Gutierrez and Microsoft's general counsel Brad Smith make the bold assertion that free and open source software (FOSS)—including the Linux operating system—violate some 245 Microsoft patents, and the company believes open source distributors and end users should pay royalties on the… Read More

Powerhouse companies in the entertainment, computer and content industries, as well as government, are gathering together early next week to discuss and debate the hot-topic issue of digital rights. On April 23 and 24 at the tony Four Seasons Hotel Beverly Hills in Los Angeles representatives from Disney, Time Warner, Microsoft, Google and Fox among others will gather to discuss emerging practices, trends and laws regarding… Read More

Internet titan Google and financial software giant Intuit have announced what might turn out to be a landmark deal giving Google services a place in a major desktop application. The companies have announced that Intuit will incorporate a number of popular Google services into QuickBooks 2007, Intuit's flagship small business accounting package. “This alliance combines the strengths of both Google and Intuit to deliver… Read More

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith has unveiled “Twelve Tenets to Promote Competition,” to which Microsoft says it will adhere in its product development efforts, starting with Windows Vista. The principals are designed to expand choices for both consumers and the community of developers for the Windows platform

In a move which clearly indicates their patience sis at an end, regulators for the European Union have fined Microsoft €280.5 million (about US $357.7 million) for failing to comply with the terms of a 2004 antirust settlement. And that's just the first step: the EU plans to hit Microsoft with bigger fines starting next month if the Redmond software giant doesn't toe the line. The current fine covers the period from… Read More

Software giant Microsoft has offered to license portions of its Windows source code in an effort to fend off antitrust penalties from the European Commission, which says the Redmond company has failed to comply with antitrust requirements. Just yesterday, Microsoft got a few week's breathing room from the European Commission as it decided to take a little extra time to study Microsoft's response to a threat to impose fines of up… Read More

Here is a big ouch for Microsoft - the software giant and IBM today announced they had entered into a settlement agreement related to antitrust issues between the two companies. The net-net is that Micrsoft will be paying Big Blue $775 million, as well as extending $75 million in credit towards deployment of Microsoft software at IBM. The settlement, as drawn up after a discriminatory pricing and overcharge claims case was filed the… Read More