> OK, well here we have a question of facts. One Internet source asserts 
> that Microsoft licenced a browser from Spyglass and then released it for 
> free in violation of the licence terms, and it put Spyglass out of 
> business before they could sue.

Care to quote the source?

> Another Internet source asserts that this was not in fact a violation of 
> the licence terms, and that it didn't kill Spyglass. At this point, I'm 
> not sure who to believe.

Try this official document from the US government archives:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/945256/0000950137-97-004112.txt

"On January 21, 1997, the Company amended its license arrangement with
Microsoft Corporation ("Microsoft") to convert Microsoft's existing license 
for
the Spyglass Mosaic browser technology into a fully paid-up license in
consideration of an additional $8,000,000 payment from Microsoft."

Also I don't see how OpenTV were able to buy Spyglass for $2.5b in 2000 if 
they had gone bankrupt :-S

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/327661

> Unless you're Microsoft, at least...

If MS suddenly released a product that nobody wanted to buy they would go 
out of business quite quickly.  The only way they can survive is by 
convincing people that they want the next version of windows, and the 
previous version is going to be outdated soon blah blah blah.  It's the same 
with phones, cars, computer hardware etc.

> Well, all I'm saying is that lots of other large companies seem to get by 
> without having to resort to cheating to stay in business...

And all I'm saying is the, let's be honest here, pretty minor bad things MS 
has done in its lifetime are not at all unusual in big business.  That's why 
I said that if you give me the name of a large company, I bet it has done 
some similar minor bad thing too.  The company I work for is currently in a 
patent battle about some technology used in its displays, and it also got a 
fine from the EU competition place for talking too much with competitors 
about prices.  Things like that just happen to big companies, it's normal, 
and why every single big company has a sizeable legal department.

If you want to start to talk about *real* unfair and illegal business 
practices then you need to look outside of the software industry.  How about 
pharma companies and pseudo-doctors pushing drugs that don't really do 
anything (or worse cause negative effects), what about companies knowingly 
selling products that will be smuggled into high-tax countries, or selling 
cigarettes to children, or using toxic chemicals in children's toys? 
Stealing some GPL code to put in a DVD player suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

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