There's bound to be a lot of hand-wringing this week, as techdom studies the landmark settlement that AOL Time Warner and Microsoft struck May 29. The deal calls for Microsoft to pay AOL $750 million to settle claims that it illegally leveraged its Windows operating-system monopoly to crush Netscape Communications, which AOL bought in 1999. More important for the rest of the industry, AOL Time Warner agreed to work with Microsoft's digital-media technology group, and potentially distribute its music and movies using Microsoft's technology over the Web.
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