Only 9 companies have licensed MS stuff.
October 24, 2003, 11:08 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- The judge in the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case urged government lawyers Friday to investigate why only nine companies so far have paid Microsoft to license its technology for their own software products, agreements central to the success of a landmark settlement negotiated with the Bush administration.
[...]
To entice more companies to license its technology, Microsoft previously agreed to reduce from $100,000 to $50,000 a prepayment from rivals and reduce the price it charges so that it collects 1 percent to 5 percent of the revenues of the software that includes its technology.
But since that change, only five more companies have signed licenses with Microsoft, including the Utah-based SCO Group Inc., which has separately threatened to sue companies using the Linux operating system unless they pay a licensing fee.
The fifth new license, disclosed during the hearing, involved UTStarcom Inc. of Alameda, Calif., a 12-year-old wireless company that concentrates on markets in China. It reported quarterly income of $59.1 million on sales of $584.4 million.
The three other Microsoft licenses since July cover only special-purpose products.
Gee, why aren't companies willing to give up 5% of their product's revenue to MS???
Cheers,
Scott.
