From the Complaint filed in Daisy Mountain Fire District v. Microsoft Corporation:
Software companies offering superior operating systems and/or lower prices (namely, companies such as Digital Research, Inc. (“DRI”), International Business Machines (“IBM”), and Be, Inc.) were not able to compete with Microsoft because of Microsoft’s unlawful conduct.
C’mon. You can’t be serious. I’m no fan of Microsoft, but to claim that BeOS couldn’t compete because of Microsoft’s unlawful conduct is absolutely ridiculous. All this time, I thought BeOS was competing against Mac OS, not Microsoft Windows. Instead of resolving this problem in the courtroom, the Daisy Mountain Fire District (and similarly situated government entities, agencies and political subdivisions of the State of Arizona) can take a truly meaningful stand by supporting other operating systems, such as Mac OS X, Linux, or even the BeOS-inspired Haiku open-source operating system. And, it’s not like Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel are the only two choices out there. Google Apps anyone? Suing and getting a coupon back doesn’t change the market dynamics. Switching to alternative operating systems and applications does.