Microsoft's Non Concession

from the oh-we-didn't-mean-that... dept

A few weeks ago Microsoft many a tiny concession saying that computer makers could put icons of other ISPs on the desktop before they shipped them. Lots of commentators pointed out this was a tiny concession that didn't mean anything. I thought it was so meaningless, I didn't even bother to post it. Now, we find out it's even less meaningful than we thought. AOL last week worked out a deal to have their icon "exclusively" placed on Compaq's desktop. Now, Microsoft has said what they meant was that companies could put other ISPs on the desktop only if they also included MSN. They say they're doing this to encourage a choice among ISPs - which is one of the funniest comments to come out of a Microsoftie in years. Someone recently pointed out to me that Microsoft seems to be having a lot of fun fighting a bunch of little meaningless battles while they slip by on the big important issues.

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