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U.S. v. Microsoft: Internal Microsoft E-Mail
From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2001 3:17 PM
To: All Employees of MS in Puget Sound
Subject: Settlement in the Antitrust Lawsuit
Importance: High
I am pleased to report that we signed a settlement agreement today with the United States government in the antitrust case. This is a very positive and significant step forward. And we are hopeful that most, if not all, of the states who are party to the litigation will join in this settlement by Tuesday morning.
We worked intensively over the last month with the court-appointed mediator and the Department of Justice to reach this settlement, and we believe it represents a fair compromise on all sides. The proposed judgment, which runs for a period of five years, requires significant changes in how we license software, and new ways of working with independent software vendors. At the same time, it also allows us to move forward and develop new versions of Windows with new integrated technologies.
You can read the agreement at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/nov01/11-02settlement.asp. This obviously is a complex agreement. Over the next several months, we will be conducting training for appropriate people and sharing additional information about how aspects of the settlement affect our efforts.
It was always clear that any settlement would push us beyond our comfort zone. This settlement does that and even puts restrictions on us that go beyond the ruling of the Court of Appeals. However, we felt this was the right thing to do for the company – and for the industry and the broader economy. All along, our goal has been to ensure that we can continue to focus on creating great software and important innovations for customers. This was the central principle we have worked to protect since this litigation began. We have also learned that as much effort as we have made to involve our industry in the past, we want to do more. This learning was obvious to us independent of the settlement. The settlement obligates us to do even more to provide industry leadership and information to partners and competitors alike.
There are many challenges ahead for our industry, for our nation and for the global economy, and this settlement will help ensure that Microsoft can continue to deliver innovative new products and services to the marketplace.
Although we still have work to do to resolve remaining matters with the state AGs, the European Union and a number of private antitrust lawsuits, today’s agreement is a very significant step toward putting this matter behind us. I know that this litigation has been difficult at times, and I want to thank all of you for keeping your focus on the important work of delivering great products and services like Windows XP, Office XP, MSN 7, Xbox, Visual Studio .NET, Windows .net Server and many others.
It is a tribute to all of you that we have delivered some of the most important products we’ve ever created during such a challenging time. With this settlement, an amazing set of products just released and in the pipeline, and a strong development roadmap with .NET, we are in a great position to deliver on the promise and opportunities of the Digital Decade ahead.
While today's news is obviously a positive step forward, I want to underscore that this is not a time for celebration. It is a time to reflect on our responsibilities and to continue moving forward on working with partners and building great products for consumers.
Thanks again for your support and your hard work.
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