Remembering How Microsoft's Fake Windows Error Ended In a $280 Million Secret Settlement (makeuseof.com)
- Reference: 0184174498
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/26/06/29/0642256/remembering-how-microsofts-fake-windows-error-ended-in-a-280-million-secret-settlement
- Source link: https://www.makeuseof.com/microsofts-windows-fake-error-ended-in-a-280-million-settlement/
> Facing real competition from Digital Research's DR DOS, Microsoft secretly embedded a sabotaging mechanism known as "AARD code" into beta versions of Windows 3.1 to prevent it from running on Digital Research's competing DR DOS operating system.
> This code triggered fake, alarming error messages to convince developers that DR DOS was unstable... Although Microsoft disabled the feature in the final retail release, the California-based firm Caldera, Inc., which had acquired DR DOS assets, sued Microsoft for anti-competitive practices.
> Microsoft settled the lawsuit out of court in 2000 for $280 million, a figure that remained sealed until it was unsealed in 2009.
[1] https://www.slashdot.org/~joshuark
[2] https://www.makeuseof.com/microsofts-windows-fake-error-ended-in-a-280-million-settlement/
Re: (Score:2)
News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters ? Or just stale news stories from various points in the lsat decade, stuff that everyone has already read?
Re: 2009 Stuff that mattered (Score:2)
My first exposure to Linux (after reading around) was a 3-inch manual with a Caldera Linux cover disc. So my approach to learning it was more or less organized.
Re: (Score:2)
Given the lack of quantity of stories for a week or two, I think somebody's either on vacation for the 4th or not on staff anymore.
Re: (Score:3)
Did you know this story? I didn't.
Re: (Score:2)
I can't remember having read about it either, but I'm pretty sure that Caldera was later taken over by SCO and anyone who can't remember SCO's attempt to sink Linux is either very young or has been living underneath a rock for several years. SCO had their own Linux distribution at the time, and that distribution was a rebranded Caldera.
Re: (Score:3)
the SCO/IBM/Novell case & the tracking done by Pamela Jones of Groklaw was big news on Slashdot for a very long time
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't now about this deal, but they do make an excellent spa!
History but Microsoft's intent remains the same (Score:3)
2003 [1]What evidence of origin,ownership,copyright + GPL [slashdot.org]
2003 [2]The Trillian Project : Proof of SCO's actions [lwn.net]
2004 [3]A plea for relief from Microsoft's escalating anti-competitive tactics. [blogspot.com]
[1] https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=66874&cid=6142744
[2] https://lwn.net/Comments/36053/
[3] https://itheresies.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_archive.html
$280 mil for something they didn't do? (Score:1)
How does that make sense? They almost did something illegally anti-competitive but then didn't. What's the settlement for? If you spend 3 months planning a bank robbery and then call it off, you didn't commit a crime. Likewise, they didn't ship the offending code.
Re: (Score:3)
From TFS:
"This code triggered fake, alarming error messages to convince developers that DR DOS was unstable..."
Presumably this spooked developers who were looking at the code before it officially shipped. Once a developer is spooked, can he really be unspooked?
Re:$280 mil for something they didn't do? (Score:5, Insightful)
In U.S. law, you can be charged with criminal conspiracy even if the planned crime never actually happens. Conspiracy is considered an “inchoate” offense, meaning it is a crime before the target crime is completed.
But in this case they did commit the crime.
Re:$280 mil for something they didn't do? (Score:5, Insightful)
They did it in the pre-release software knowing that the issues would get picked up by the tech press. Remember this was Windows 3.1 era. Most Windows/Dos users were not internet users.
People relied on what they read in things like PC Mag and Byte, yes even corporate IT decision makers. Microsoft knew that those sorts of publications would leap on the opportunity to test pre-release Windows, would actually try it out on a variety of PC hardware and DOS versions. These were monthly publications at most and would be unlikely to give space to a second review until after the RTM version hit store shelves.
The message would be clear, for a smooth experience on the new Windows, you better plan an upgrade to MSDOS 5. I know a lot of people jumped from MSDOS 3.x to 5.0 at the same time they bought Windows 3.1[1]. So it worked..
By the time everyone figured out Windows 3.1[1] was just fine on DR DOS, they'd already switched MSDOS or already paid to upgrade to MSDOS 5, so Digital Research was not getting the users back.
Re: (Score:2)
Ah, okay, that makes more sense. Thank you.
You're seeing this with beef prices (Score:4, Interesting)
I know that sounds like a non sequitured but stick with me.
In the old days antitrust lawsuits were part of the enforcement mechanism. If you illegally used a monopoly to harm competition you could expect your competitors to sue you and win.
After the lawsuit you would have to adjust or change your behavior or the regulator would move in.
Microsoft was when that broke down. They did the payouts but the regulator never moved in. Well it did, but then Bush Jr won the election and that was that.
So what does that have to do with beef prices? McDonald's has colluded with the beef producers. The beef producer is now giving McDonald's a kickback to keep their profits up while keeping the price of beef elevated via collusion. The regulator is asleep at the wheel or more likely they got shived by the administration. Meanwhile you're paying $8 a pound for ground beef.
You can't keep allowing all the systems that protect you and keep prices low to collapse and then complain when prices shoot up and crooks you all your property. You need to start making a choice between candidates that will actually put money in your pocket and keep it there and candidates that give you that warm feeling inside from grievances.
Unfortunately so far Americans are on track to go for grievance politics
Re: (Score:3)
85% of the meat packing industry in the US is owned by four multinational megacorps:
Tyson Foods (U.S.-owned)
Cargill (U.S.-owned)
JBS (Brazilian-owned)
National Beef (Brazilian-owned)
They are very obviously operating as a cartel. They have faced legal action to this effect, though nothing with real teeth.
I don't really see why McDonald's is relevant since they don't produce the beef, they are a buyer of it. Be that as it may, cartel behavior is harmful to the economy and is an inevitable result whenever the
Re: (Score:2)
It doesn't help we're Making Parasites Great Again [1]https://farmpolicynews.illinoi... [illinois.edu]
[1] https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2026/06/canada-bans-texas-livestock-imports-after-second-screwworm-case/
Re: (Score:2)
> It doesn't help we're Making Parasites Great Again [1]https://farmpolicynews.illinoi... [farmpolicy...illinoi...]
One needs to remember that USAID was actually the agency keeping screwworm at bay. It was listed as agricultural aid - and that aid was in keeping the parasites from spreading. Sure, it helps the other countries, but it also means the parasite doesn't hit US soil.
This is likely to cost US beef ranchers way more than what USAID cost to run, and even if you funded USAID now, it will take years to eradicate.
[1] https://farmpolicynews.illinoi.../
Re: (Score:3)
Do you not see how you're just expressing a grievance regarding anti-trust enforcement? How are you any different? You're just saying that you want people to vote for candidates that share your grievances.
And also, you're wrong. The process you say didn't happen, quite clearly did. The regulators absolutely moved in, that's why IE and Teams got unbundled.
Bush had nothing to do with it. The first verdict happened before the election, and then it went to an appellate court that reversed parts of th
Re: (Score:2)
It's 2026.
Everything is partisan, don't you understand? That's *part* of the enshittification. :|
But thank you for trying to bring actual facts to the discussion.
I've been convinced for decades that nobody in the beltway - whether they have a (R) or (D) by their name, or a 'nonpartisan bureaucrat' (ha ahahahaah) - gives much of a shit about the 340m people outside the beltway except as farmable resources.
burn in Hell Darl McBride (Score:5, Informative)
Wow, Caldera, there's a company I haven't heard about in a looooonnngg time.
Let's remember that they transformed into blatant patent troll and persistent lawsuit pest [1]The SCO Group [wikipedia.org] which Microsoft funded in a futile attempt to bludgeon Linux out of existence.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO_Group
Re:burn in Hell Darl McBride (Score:4, Insightful)
Honestly without our government being captured by billionaires and foolish voters falling for slick media campaigns none of what these Jokers do would matter.
One individual asshole isn't enough to screw us all over. It takes a lot of money and a lot of people who aren't paying attention to what's going on for . And that's on all sides. I'm on the left wing and we are dumb as dishwater. We are currently in fighting with the centrists instead of doing something about the little fascists.
Re: (Score:2)
Now there's a blast from the past.
Those shitweasels caused a lot of pain and cost a lot of money. Darl's reward was picking scraps from the SCO trash heap, bankruptcy and then croaking of ALS.
I wonder what PJ is up to.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't wonder what PJ is up to. I can't even remember the site name/URL that originally was covering that and had forums, but when the password restrictions because utterly freakin' stupid for a new aggregator and discussion forum I just stopped bothering to visit.
Microsoft extortion & protection racket (Score:3)
Microsoft under Bill Gates, an extortion & protection racket ?
Groklaw: [1]Microsoft Litigation Resource Page [archive.org]
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20160327064554/http://gl.scofacts.org/gl-20041228040645419.html
Re: (Score:2)
It's funny that there is a case "Ticketmasters v Microsoft." Pot, meet Kettle.
So? (Score:1)
If you have to go back 26 years to find something to complain about, you really don't have a basis to complain.
Oh, right! (Score:5, Insightful)
The current miasma of enshittification and anticonsumerism among all the major software companies makes me occasionally forget that Microsoft has been ahead of the curve by decades and incredibly evil and garbage pretty much from the beginning.
Re:Oh, right! (Score:4, Insightful)
Still, they're the Monsanto of software: if something would be worth doing and lucrative, but is not evil, they're not doing.
This scorpion doesn't seem able to change its stripes.
Re:Oh, right! (Score:5, Interesting)
The irony here is that the true evil has been missed from the story. Microsoft was deliberately trying to fund Caldera to damage Linux. This settlement was an effective way to transfer money from one company to another, avoiding taxes, avoiding scrutiny and settling an outstanding potential future Microsoft liability.
Re: (Score:1)
> This scorpion doesn't seem able to change its stripes.
That is why you never let a scorpion ride on your back as you cross a river.
10 points for getting the reference
Lotus (Score:2)
Windows isn't done until Lotus doesn't run.
Re: (Score:2)
As opposed to IBM, a company whose IBM System/360 OS was totally open-source and didn't create a huge API moat that continues to this day. Same for VMS, a rather expansive API moat that was the sole reason anyone was buying VAXens after RISC workstations became commonplace and is the reason some corporations are still buying VAX clones or VAX virtualizations solutions. Or even the various RISC workstations, whose Unix-based OSes were proprietary and just different enough among each other for every OS to hav