Gates in Spotlight on Capitol Hill nytimes.com
Another Times article from today, sheesh.
Bill Gates walked into the Senate hearing room Tuesday flanked by his home state's two senators, Slade Gorton and Patty Murray of Washington, like a couple of bodyguards ready to ward off the blows.
Gates arrived in town Monday to lay the groundwork, shake hands, answer questions and play the political game he had been accused of ignoring for way too long. But in a few short hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gates saw his spruced-up image sputter all over again.
The word monopolist bounced around the room so many times it felt like an echo chamber. His company, the Microsoft behemoth, was likened to a giant hair ball that consumes everything in its path and an 800-pound gorilla with one too many callouses. It was suggested he was disingenuous and greedy and naive.
I have to disagree with that last one, of course, the other two will of course be seen as badges of honor around here. Other entertaining tidbits, of course, but I leave you with a quote from one of Fighting Bob's successors.
Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., asked why Microsoft's percentage of sales to profits was so much higher than those of businesses in other industries. His not so subtle suggestion was that Gates was a monopolist looking to safeguard his treasure chest.
Cheers, Dan. |
