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It’s well documented that Microsoft did not behave well in the 90’s https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallowee

It’s well documented that Microsoft did not behave well in the 90’s https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents However in the case of the Windows NT NetWare client I don’t think this happened. I think one of the variations on Hanlons razor is a more likely explanation. “You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity” The really worrying thing is that all the major players seem to have the same strategy at the moment. That is to own and control the platform.

raesene9 6y ago
Microsoft did end up paying $500M to Novell over anti-competitive behaviour in the 1990's https://www.geek.com/law/microsoft-settles-novell-case-for-us536-million-556963/ https://www.geek.com/law/microsoft-settles-novell-case-for-u... My memory, and it's been a while, was that at least partially related to some interop tricks that MS played to make Netware's software work less well in the Windows world. , although I'm sure part of it was also down to Novell finding it challenging to adapt.
- lrpublic 6y ago
  I thought that was about WordPerfect etc rather than NetWare. Totally agree that Microsoft did some bad stuff, I just don’t remember there being any malign attempts to disrupt NetWare integration. NetWare was the main player in PC networking at the time, so arguably it would not have been a good strategy. It’s absolutely true that the NDS integration was an issue, but my memory is that this was a quality/competency issue on both sides, and not due to a lack of cooperation.
  - raesene9 6y ago
    I think wordperfect was a diffrent settlement at least according to https://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/microsoft_novell_netware_settlement/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/microsoft_novell_ne... From that the settlement was around NDS for NT
    - lrpublic 6y ago
      Thanks for digging that out, I stand corrected.

raesene9 6y ago

Microsoft did end up paying $500M to Novell over anti-competitive behaviour in the 1990's https://www.geek.com/law/microsoft-settles-novell-case-for-us536-million-556963/ https://www.geek.com/law/microsoft-settles-novell-case-for-u... My memory, and it's been a while, was that at least partially related to some interop tricks that MS played to make Netware's software work less well in the Windows world. , although I'm sure part of it was also down to Novell finding it challenging to adapt.

lrpublic 6y ago
I thought that was about WordPerfect etc rather than NetWare. Totally agree that Microsoft did some bad stuff, I just don’t remember there being any malign attempts to disrupt NetWare integration. NetWare was the main player in PC networking at the time, so arguably it would not have been a good strategy. It’s absolutely true that the NDS integration was an issue, but my memory is that this was a quality/competency issue on both sides, and not due to a lack of cooperation.
- raesene9 6y ago
  I think wordperfect was a diffrent settlement at least according to https://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/microsoft_novell_netware_settlement/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/microsoft_novell_ne... From that the settlement was around NDS for NT
  - lrpublic 6y ago
    Thanks for digging that out, I stand corrected.