I hear you, Teflon. But I guess I have more faith in the American institutions than you do.
I refuse to believe the DOJ has colluded with AOL. What has happenend, I believe, is that the DOJ underestimated the impact technological change has on the competitive environment in the software industry. I've been saying this for a long time: it is silly to compare MSFT's alleged monopoly of the desktop O/S, such as it is, with the Standard Oil situation, or even the AT&T situation.
The only legitimate issue the DOJ has, is whether or not MSFT has engaged in *illegal* anticompetitive practices. The "monopoly" fears, on the other hand, were ALWAYS silly - such a monopoly in the software industry is simply not sustainable. I think the DOJ simply didn't expect that AOL/Netscape would be such an agile competitor. Remember, the DOJ is not staffed by techies who understand just how murderous the competition in the software industry really is. They are operating on outdated concepts.
David Bois, BTW, is clearly a tech neophyte. He didn't know the simplest tech concepts, like "browser", when he took the case. No wonder, it was easy to fall for the AOL sob story. But *collusion*? Sorry, I don't believe it.
Bois is behaving in typical prosecutorial fashion. It is not his job, as a prosecutor, to "seek the truth" - it is to win the case (and this is how the American judicial system is set up, unlike f.ex. France). So, he will gloss over the new evidence that AOL is actually quite able to compete against MSFT - because it is not convenient for his case. On the other hand, defence attorneys do exactly the same thing - it is not their job to turn up evidence of MSFT's wrong-doing, it is to "win" thier case. We have an adversarial judicial system. And despite its numerous flaws (just look at O.J. - ugh!), it is still the best system in the world.
God bless America!
Morgan
PS Of course, if there was true collusion to suppress evidence, DOJ would be culpable, and that would be actionable. I simply don't think they would do anything so grossly unethical.
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