To: H James Morris who wrote (98537 ) 4/3/2000 9:21:00 PM From: Bearded One Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Don't kid yourself...He can afford to f%^$k around with the government until the election. not come to Microsoft's defense--- in order to do so, Microsoft had to have provided political cover. Honesty and forthrightness about their behavior during the trial might have provided that cover. The trial would have been a debate over the legality of certain behaviors and might have resulted in a compromise. Instead, Microsoft came out looking like a bunch of liars, with Gates the biggest liar of all. That destroyed all of Microsofts points-- why believe liars-- and made it impossible for politicians to defend. We're not talking about getting hummers from an intern, but anti-consumer behavior. Note how quickly the Tobacco industry suffered once they were shown to be liars. It was the 'secret memos' from the industry that hurt Tobacco, even though the memos didn't say anything new.not be able to use tricks to substantially alleviate or delay their punishment. Any legal trick they use will be counteracted in one of two ways: First, the DOJ will attempt to counteract them legally. If the DOJ is unable to counteract a legal trick or loophole, they will launch a political attack on Microsoft. They will say "Microsoft is using legal trickery to hurt consumers, maintain their monopoly, and delay or obviate the rights of consumers to yada yada yada.." When that happens, Congress and/or the White House will counteract Microsoft politically.
