Microsoft will be able to pursue its current business strategy
unhindered by the latest ruling in its long-running antitrust
battle, according to analysts.
The company has already made many changes required as part of last
year's settlement with the Department of Justice. Last week's
ruling by Judge Kollar-Kotelly rejected most of the demands of the
nine US states that were demanding harsher penalties.
Little has changed
Gartner analysts Thomas Bittman and
Michael Silver said the latest decision represented a "big win" for
the software company. "Microsoft has already made most of the
required behavioural alterations, so enterprises should not see any
changes," they said.
Microsoft is still facing legal action, particularly in Europe, but
the ruling could pave the way for the company to make new
acquisitions.
Microsoft's next move
Acquisition has always been
central to Microsoft's growth, according to Philip Carnelley,
research director at Ovum, who said the ruling would allow
Microsoft to push further into the enterprise application software
market.
The company was seeking to use its acquisitions of Navision and
Great Plains, to turn a $500m (£322m) enterprise application
software business into a $10bn (£6.4bn) business, said Carnelley.
"The IT market is unlikely to grow. The only way for Microsoft to
create a $10bn enterprise application software business is by
capturing market share," he said.
Carnelley was concerned that last week's ruling offered little
protection for companies operating in this area of the software
business. He predicted that companies specialising in small and
medium-sized business applications, such as Sage and Systems Union,
would face strong competition from Microsoft.
Software compatibility
Microsoft's ability to move into
new markets does not appear to have been affected by the ruling,
but the remedies agreed with the Department of Justice do simplify
integration between Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies.
Carnelley said the ruling forbids Microsoft from using hidden
program interfaces within Windows to optimise its own application
products. "This will help Linux, particularly on the server side,"
he added.
The settlement prohibits Microsoft from imposing unreasonable or
discriminatory licence terms for access to programming interfaces
within Windows. It does, however, permit Microsoft to require a
reasonable royalty for the use of its technology.
Meta vice-president Ashem Pal said the settlement has not defined
the level of access to the Windows interface technology that a
rival should receive.
"Seeing the source code to Windows won't help without
documentation," he said. "I am highly sceptical whether the Court
ruling will have any impact on the openness of Windows."