Digital Trends
Microsoft isn’t making its vast profits any more, it’s shedding 5,000 jobs, and, according to a new company blog posting, it’s also going to delay its plans for a new data center in Des Moines, Iowa. The center was set to host Hotmail, Live Search and Windows Live services.
Computer maker Dell has agreed to pay some $3.35 million to settle 34 states’ allegations that the company’s warranty, financing, and rebate offers were deceptive and misled consumers. The agreement has Dell paying $1.5 million into a restitution account; impacted consumers will be able to submit claims for compensation. The other $1.85 million will go towards the states’ legal costs.
“More than the money, this agreement provides profoundly important business practice reforms,” said Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal, in a statement. “No more bait-and-switch financing—offers touting zero-interest that become surprise high-interest charges or astounding late penalties. Our strong coalition of states will closely monitor and enforce this agreement, which has been reached with Dell’s cooperation.”
Popular social networking site Facebook has, after reportedly long negotiations, reached an agreement with attorneys general from 49 states and the District of Columbia to implement policies and technology designed to shield underage users from sexual predators. The deal is similar to an agreement with 49 states (and Washington DC) reached earlier this year with social networking site MySpace—and, once again, the single state not signing on is Texas. The new agreement also follows Facebook’s mea culpa last year when it admitted it had failed to respond promptly to complaints of online harassment and abuse.
The comScore figures for Web searches in January reveal no major surprises. It’s an election year, so politics dominates the scene everywhere, it’s early in the year, so people are thinking of taxes. And with the bottom dropping out of the housing market, it’s no wonder that real estate figures high in the numbers. According to Vnunet, the tax category jumped 202% during January, with the IRS the big winner. In politics, the sites of all the candidates experienced a surge and the real estate category had a 28% rise. The other gainer was careers, perhaps also typical of the season. Jack Flanagan, executive vice president at comScore Media Metrix, said, "The new year is a time for Americans to reflect on the past year and plan for the coming year, whether searching for a new job, a new residence, or preparing for the tax season. There was also a huge surge in activity at political content sites as the Democratic and Republican Presidential primaries kicked off with the Iowa caucuses in early January."
Back in 2002, Microsoft agreed to a landmark settlement in its huge antitrust case with the federal government. Part of the settlement was that Microsoft agreed to oversight of its business activities to ensure the company did not abuse its monopoly position in the computer operating system market. Most of those restrictions were set to lapse on November 12, 2007, but Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is responsible for overseeing the antitrust settlement, has agreed to a delay to consider whether those restrictions should be extended another five years.
Boy, if you are going to make a gutsy move, there is nothing like taking out both your own product and your leading competitor’s product at the same time by rethinking the market. Palm just rethought the Smartphone, and in many ways, this new vision likely comes closer to the way most of us work now than the current generation of Smartphones do.
The Problem
Judge Scott Rosenberg of Iowa’s Poll County District Court has granted a preliminary approval to a settlement of antitrust charges against Microsoft in the state of Iowa. The settlement, originally announced in February, has Microsoft paying up to $179.5 million to businesses and individual computer users who purchased selected Microsoft applications and operating systems between May 18, 1994, and June 30, 2006.
The class action antitrust suit alleged Microsoft abused its monopoly position in the computing industry to overcharge for its software; Microsoft claimed its prices were fair, and, even if the defendants somehow proved they weren’t, no actual harm had come to Iowa residents as the result of inflated prices. The suit alleged damages and claims which could have totaled more than $1 billion.
Pundits have been pondering just how much influence social networking sites like the ever-popular MySpace might be able to exert on U.S. election politics: declared presidential candidates from both major parties have assembled MySpace pages and are enthusiastically inviting the sites’ online-savvy youth demographic to sign on as their friends, and organizers alternately quake in fear and glee as they ponder the potential person-to-person capabilities of social networking services to spread candidates’ messages (or misinformation) and mobilize young voters to actively participate in the political process—and perhaps even vote.
The case has already been to the Iowa Supreme Court three times, but today Microsoft agreed to settle an Iowa class action antitrust lawsuit against it for an undisclosed amount. Terms of the settlement could be released at a hearing in late April when the judge decides whether to accept the agreement, but for now all that has been disclosed is that Microsoft will contribute half of any unclaimed proceeds from the settlement to Iowa schools.
Following immediately on its settlements with Texas and California, music label Sony BMG has agreed to pay some $4.25 million as part of settlement agreements with 39 U.S. states and the District of Columbia regarding copy protection software included on some of the labels music CDs which caused computers to malfunction and exposed users to security threats.
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