[IP] more on Apple's Unlikely Guardian Angel
Title: more on Apple's Unlikely Guardian Angel
------ Forwarded Message
From: Barry Ritholtz <ritholtz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 11:26:53 -0500
To: <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <tesler@xxxxxxxxx>, <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Apple's Unlikely Guardian Angel
Hey Dave,
Unlikely Guardian? Hardly.
While some may not remember this, there was a period when Microsoft could have easily ended Apple's viability as a company. All they had to do was kill development of MS Office and Internet Explorer for Mac, claiming the small market share did not justify their major expense of supporting the platform.
That would very likely have been the final death blow for Apple; This was during the dark days BJR (Before Jobs Returned). Jobs' deal with Bill G. was more of a credibility grab than a true cross licensing matter. Each got something from the other -- Jobs showed the platform wasn't about to disappear, and Gates showed his warm and cuddly side (See, we're really no predatory monopolists!)
It would have been against Microsoft's own interests to kill Apple. In legal circles, it was thought that Redmond behemoth wanted to keep Apple around -- especially as a dramatically weakened competitor -- for anti-trust purposes. From both a business and an legal perspective, the more technically viable but economically weak companies making consumer OS's, the better it was for potential DoJ litigation. They must have suspected one would be coming, eventually.
Amazing what can happen in a decade, though . . .
(please recall my prior disclosures on MSFT)
Barry L. Ritholtz
Chief Market Strategist
Maxim Group
405 Lexington Avenue,
New York, NY 10174
(212) 895-3614
(800) 724-0761
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On Feb 6, 2005, at 11:10 AM, David Farber wrote:
Dave,
Just so nobody repeats misconceptions in this year-old column:
"Microsoft, in fact, always has been closely associated with the Mac. Microsoft created some of the Mac's first software applications: Excel and PowerPoint, for example."
The company that developed PowerPoint was Forethought. Microsoft acquired Forethought in 1987 and ported PowerPoint to Windows.
"There was, of course, a multi-million dollar legal battle throughout most of the '90s after Apple accused Microsoft of ripping off the Mac interface in Windows. After years of wrangling, the suit was settled out of court in 1997, when Microsoft made a symbolic $150 million investment in Apple and pledged products for the next Mac for the next five years."
The 1980's user interface suit was decided in court, in Microsoft's favor, in 1992 (or 1994, if you count the appeal).
The 1997 investment was related to patent cross-licensing, interoperability, and the desire of both companies to ensure that Microsoft applications for the Mac continued to be sold. See http://www.industryweek.com/DailyPage/newsitem.asp?id=99.
The whole column can be summed up in one word, coopetition, a word that was spoken a lot at Apple during that period.
Larry Tesler
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