In article ABybf.1804$Y97.829@trndny05, George Patterson
wrote:

It's not at all odd. Microsoft has a long history of breaking industry
standards in order to foster incompatibilities that make its competitors
products appear inferior.

Now you're being ridiculous.

Not at all. They've done this with various standards, including HTML and XML.

And Java. They tried to "extend" Java for their own use and change the
way it worked. They were sued by Sun, its creator, because they
effectively broke what was supposed to be a cross-platform computer
language. They settled out of court, greatly in Sun's favor.


From C|NET:
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-251401.html

"Under the settlement, Microsoft will pay Sun $20 million and is
permanently prohibited from using 'Java compatible' trademarks on its
products, according to Sun. Sun also gets to terminate the licensing
agreement it signed with Microsoft."

--
Garner R. Miller
ATP/CFII/MEI
Clifton Park, NY =USA=
http://www.garnermiller.com/