Open records
5 of 18 records, free, exactly as they appear in the set. 7 more verified records are in the purchased files.
| Company | Fork date | The fork | Options | Choice | Stated rationale | What happened | Judgment analyst | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alphabet (Google) Read the story → verified | 2005 | Whether to give Android away free and open-source to win mobile distribution |
| Give the OS away free | To ensure that whatever phone the world bought, Google Search and Google's ads rode along | 5 years · 2024-08 Antitrust ruling: A U.S. court ruled the default-search payments were how Google unlawfully maintained its search monopoly | reversibility low verdict held | Wikipedia / Andy Rubin article (2026); Wikipedia — Usage share of operating systems (2025-12); HubiFi (2025-10); Search Engine Land (reporting on U.S. District Court, D.C.) (2026-02) |
| AMD Read the story → verified | 2003-04 | How AMD should bring 64-bit computing to x86: extend the existing instruction set or take a clean-break approach |
| Backward-compatible x86 extension | The extension kept the entire 32-bit x86 software universe running unchanged, avoiding an emulation tax or rewrite. | 5 years · 2010-08-04 FTC settlement remedies: The FTC settlement imposed behavioral remedies but no monetary fine on Intel, which admitted no violation | reversibility low verdict held | Wikipedia / openSUSE Wiki (corroborated) (2024); Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. via SEC EDGAR (2009-11); Intel Corporation via SEC EDGAR (2010-08) |
| Apple Read the story → verified | 2023-09 | Whether to keep proprietary Lightning or switch the iPhone to USB-C |
| Switch iPhone to USB-C early | Once compliance was inevitable, maintaining two connector designs was more expensive than switching the whole line at once | 1 year · 2025-02-19 Lightning discontinuation: Lightning fully discontinued as the iPhone SE (3rd gen) is dropped | reversibility low verdict held | Wikipedia / Lightning (connector) (2025-02); OWC/MacSales.com (2022-10) |
| Apple Read the story → verified | 2011-04-15 | Should Apple sue Samsung on design patents to set a price for the iPhone's look? |
| Sue on design patents | Apple sought to establish that Samsung had copied the iPhone's design and to put a price on the iPhone's look | 5 years · 2018-06 settlement: Apple and Samsung settled all remaining claims on undisclosed terms | reversibility low verdict partial | U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (2011-04); U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit / NYU Law (2012); SGR Law (2016); Supreme Court of the United States (2016-12); Wikipedia / Am Badar & Partners (2018-06) |
| ASML Read the story → verified | 2012 | Whether to sell equity stakes to its own chipmaker customers to lock in EUV as the standard |
| Sell equity to customers | Selling customers equity inverted their incentive to fund a rival second source, making the hedge irrational | 5 years · 2024 overall lithography share: ASML holds approximately 94 percent of lithography by value; Nikon ~2.5%, Canon ~3.4% | reversibility low verdict held | ASML Holding NV / SEC EDGAR (2012-08); 36kr / Morgan Stanley Securities (underlying data) (2025-08) |
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- Fork date at the precision the record supports, never sharper.
- The fork, the options, the choice in the form the company faced them.
- Stated rationale as the company gave it or the record documents it, not our theory.
- Capital committed where the record states it; blank where it does not.
- Outcomes at one, three and five years or latest, each dated and cited.
- Reversibility and verdict as analyst judgments, marked as such.
- Every source, with dates and links, per record and in an appendix.