Did you really think Microsoft was going to allow true competition on the desktop? They are merely going to try to get another "95 Consent Decree" type of judgement so that they can use loopholes, falsehoods and retractions in order to make the DoJ and Courts look incompetent. They've done it before, they're doing it again.
[link|http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/168508.html|
Microsoft Position On MSN Icon Angers Competitors ]

Microsoft competitors reacted with I-told-you-so outrage yesterday to the software giant's insistence that its Internet service not be put at a disadvantage when computer manufacturers configure the opening screen of the Windows operating system.
Earlier this month, in response to a federal appeals court ruling that it illegally abused monopoly power, Microsoft Corp. trumpeted new, more flexible licensing agreements with computer manufacturers designed to give them more control over the first screen computer users see when they turn on their machines.

Whereas Microsoft originally had planned to ship its new operating system, Windows XP, with a blank opening screen, the manufacturers were given the freedom to cut deals with software makers to customize the screen with icons touting their applications.

But after one such deal between Compaq Computer Corp. and AOL-Time Warner Inc. was announced last week, Microsoft declared that it had reserved the right to require computer makers to install the icon for access to the MSN online service as well.
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"Microsoft appears to be taking the position that the court of appeals can get lost," said John Buckley, an AOL vice president. "They offered a teeny-weeny bit of flexibility to the computer manufacturers on July 11 and now say they didn't mean it."