So Microsoft has paid off SCO. The marketeers in Redmond must be laughing so hard they're about to foul their pants. Whatever they paid, it's the biggest bargain of FUD-for-the-dollar that they ever got -- much more so than any hundred press releases. (For those uninitiated to the Ways Of Marketing: the best way to get people to buy your product, instead of your competitors', is to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about the competing products.)
Of course, the timing of the shredding of the court documents relating to the long-ago lawsuit between the two of them (going on the deal was signed) is completely coincidental.
And they get all this value without any of the nasty hassles with those antitrust people. By whom, I mean the attorneys general of the various states -- the Justice (sic) Department certainly doesn't care.
Posted by mark at May 22, 2003 11:03 AM