5/3/2026 at 11:22:59 AM
An important aspect of this is that MS was under heavy scrutiny at that time for anti-competitive behavior, as the US v Microsoft case [0] was being prepared. If Apple had gone bust, MS would effectively have had a desktop OS monopoly, which wouldn't have looked good in this context.[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor....
by Cockbrand
5/3/2026 at 4:46:48 PM
The most important aspect was Microsoft settling code stealing court case with Apple. It never was Microsoft saved Apple story to begin with, even in 1998https://www.theregister.com/1998/10/29/microsoft_paid_apple_...
"David Boies, attorney for the DoJ, noted that John Warden, for Microsoft, had omitted to quote part of a handwritten note by Fred Anderson, Apple's CFO, in which Anderson wrote that "the [QuickTime] patent dispute was resolved with cross-licence and significant payment to Apple." The payment was $150 million."
by rasz
5/4/2026 at 8:35:13 AM
Interesting, I hadn't know that! Thanks!by Cockbrand