Article from Bus.Wk June 8,98
IT WAS JUST A JOKE, MS. RENO, A JOKE
THE JUSTICE DEPT. HAS UNEARTHED what it considers potentially damning evidence in its antitrust case against software giant Microsoft (MSFT). A document, so far sealed by the court, features Jeffrey Raikes, Microsoft's group vice-president for sales and marketing, declaring the company's ''Windows Paradise'' under siege and adding that ''Netscape (NSCP) pollution must be eradicated.''
The folks at Microsoft say all it proves is that Justice lawyers are terminally unhip. Raikes claims it's a script for a video he made two years ago that parodies hip-hop star Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise, the rap made popular in the movie Dangerous Minds. Turns out Raikes makes a gag video just about every year, and this was only one among many. ''Pumping up the sales force isn't only essential to competing,'' says Raikes, ''it's fun.''
Well, an ultraserious Justice official examined the document for BUSINESS WEEK and did not once mention the word ''fun.'' Said he: ''It does not appear on its face to be a joke.'' So there.
The antitrust trial is scheduled to start in September, at which point a federal judge may decide whether Raikes is a rapacious competitor or merely a lousy rapper.
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Kind rgds
ANANT |
