Just prior to launching my investigative report on whether Microsoft and IBM were plotting to take over the Internet, I received a phone call from my colleague and fellow columnist David Coursey asking me if I had forgotten to take my daily medication. He had good reason to wonder whether I had lost my mind. I'll be the first one to admit that the idea that two companies--even ones as big as Microsoft and IBM--could conspire take over the Internet on the basis of software patents and royalties is, well, "out there."
Casting further doubt upon my theory was Coursey's subsequent interview with Microsoft Platform Strategy Group General Manager Charles Fitzgerald, who said "While this may be disappointing to some conspiracy theorists, Microsoft has absolutely no ambition, plan, or desire to collect a royalty on Internet traffic." Fitzgerald went on to say, "Burdening the underlying standards with additional costs would both undermine this strategy and fly in the face of our business strategy of delivering high-volume, low-cost software."
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