But what has this got to do with the post you're responding to?
Seems Cory feels that anti-trust suits brought against companies by the government are a bad thing. Are you saying you can't make a case to support this position?
Why should he? Cory can feel however he wants. If Cory wants that case made, he should make it himself. Though I've followed the saga closely, and have made my views known, I'm still skeptical enough that anything significant will come out of the DoJ action. But, Microsoft's innovative PR-based "defense" on the matter has been, to use Bill's own pet phrases, "totally random" and "beyond bizarre". Intel, allegedly equally ruthless and monopolistic, except when Andy Grove is caving in to Bill, has a much different approach, which makes a lot more sense to me. How much press has Intel's battle got? How much dirty laundry about Intel has been in the news? Not to mention, Intel has some significant competition these days.
Mostly, I follow the antitrust saga for entertainment, and Bill's provided plenty of that. "Microsoft must be free to innovate", and to tell everybody else exactly what kind innovation is allowed, and what isn't, from Intel on down. Microsoft is just defending "the integrity and uniformity of the Windows 95 experience", which I unfortunately have had extensive experience with. Then, we have Bill's revisionist history "I was on top of the Internet all along" line. Those are just a few of the high points, of course.
The other thing I follow is the hearts and minds front. Microsoft still has lots of fans among the hard nosed investors who know the value of a good monopoly when they see one. Understandably so, zero production costs, near infinite economies of scale, and cheap, commodity hardware with cutthroat competition in all components, all look good for Microsoft. But, PR-wise, I don't know if the wiz-kid Bill image will ever be the same. Or maybe if the premature senility deposition tapes are made public, like a naive reading of the law would require, his testimony will win him sympathy. We'll see.
Cheers, Dan. |
