The beginning is funny but overall a good article,, LOL!!!
Apr. 6 (The Seattle Times/KRTBN)--WASHINGTON--Microsoft's chief congressional
critic was musing in a Senate hallway on the impropriety of Bill Gates visiting
Capitol Hill after a federal court declared his company an outlaw.
"My problem is that within 48 hours of this devastating report he's going to be
meeting with the Republicans in the House, the Democrats in the House, the
Republicans in the Senate and the Democrats in the Senate," Sen. Orrin Hatch,
R-Utah, said yesterday.
Then he turned and bumped into Gates.
"Hello, Senator," the Microsoft chairman said with a nod. "I think
I'll be meeting with you later."
Gates spent much of the day trying not to talk about the landmark antitrust
ruling against the software maker -- and the rest of the day talking about it,
as Microsoft courted all three branches of the federal government.
While Gates met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill before joining President Clinton
at the White House for an economic forum, Microsoft lawyers were a few blocks
away in the chambers of U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who handed
down the ruling.
In court, the penalty phase of the trial against Microsoft moved rapidly
forward.
Jackson ordered the federal government and 19 states to propose penalties for
Microsoft by April 28. Microsoft would then have to respond by May 10.
The judge rescinded a request he made Tuesday that both sides give him their
last offers in the failed settlement negotiations, noting that the parties might
still settle the case.
On Capitol Hill and at the White House, the nation's most prominent executive
drew mostly support from Republicans and Democrats alike in five private
meetings in which he talked about education, technology and, inevitably, the
court decision.
"In the hinterlands, you're a big hero," Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio, said in a
gathering of House Republicans hosted by Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Bellevue.
When Alan Greenspan speaks, even E.F. Hutton listens. But at the White House
economic forum yesterday, it was Gates who drew the most attention.
As the Federal Reserve chairman offered opening remarks, the president patted
Gates on the shoulder and leaned over for a private word. The ensuing crescendo
of photographers' camera shutters threatened to drown out the nation's top
inflation-watcher.
Lawmakers helped Gates avoid awkward meetings.
Hatch had asked GOP Senate leaders to invite Scott McNealy to join
Gates for a talk with the Republican Steering Committee. Failing to recognize
the name of the chief executive of Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems who was
meeting with House Democrats, one Senate leader said, "Who's he?"
The request was denied.
A Hatch aide said the senator considered Gates' visit "a big PR
campaign." But Dunn dismissed Hatch as "the senator from Novell," a reference to
another Microsoft rival company that is based in Hatch's home state.
Gates began each session with lawmakers with a disclaimer: "I didn't come here
to talk about the case. I came here really to talk about some of the exciting
things I see happening in technology and our industry today."
But he told House Democrats that the legal case against Microsoft was largely
"driven by Netscape," the company's competitor in the market for Internet
browsers, said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island.
And by the fifth session, with Senate Republicans, he was spending two-thirds of
his time talking about the case.
Several lawmakers asked Gates about the judge's suggestion that he might ask the
U.S. Supreme Court for an expedited review of the case, and Gates hinted the
company would oppose such a move.
The company has made it clear in the past that it would rather go through the
U.S. Court of Appeals, which overturned an earlier ruling against Microsoft.
"Microsoft has never lost in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, " said
Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash.
That route would give the company two chances to win and would delay the outcome
by up to a year.
Microsoft lobbyist Jack Krumholtz said Gates considers an expedited Supreme
Court review "unusual if not unprecedented."
Legal scholars differ on whether the high court would take this case on a
fast-track basis.
Although the law requires only one party to request such a review -- and there
are 20 government entities opposing Microsoft -- the justices have never
accepted an expedited case without both sides asking for one.
"Generally the court has preferred to have an appellate court sift through the
evidence first," said William Kovacic, an antitrust expert at the George
Washington University law school.
"But there's no assurance that that would be the case here."
Gates also told lawmakers he was not asking for political help. Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., has said he is considering holding hearings on the case.
"I sincerely doubt that Congress will take any kind of action, nor do I think it
should," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who hosted an hourlong meeting with
Gates and Senate Democrats.
Some said the case suggested antitrust laws were outdated.
The Sherman Antitrust Act, which is the basis of the U.S.
government's case against Microsoft, was passed by Congress in 1890.
"I don't think we know that laws that were written (years ago) will, in all
cases, fit the new reality," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.C.
Among those speaking at an upcoming House Judiciary Committee meeting that was
scheduled before the Microsoft ruling will be Joel Klein, who spearheaded the
Justice Department's case against Microsoft.
Some used Gates' visit to criticize the Clinton Justice Department. "There seems
to be a pattern in which lawyers in the Justice Department are getting into the
policy arena, where Congress should be acting," Majority Leader Trent Lott said.
When he wasn't talking about the court case, Gates discussed education and his
support for a proposal to establish normal trade relations with China. In one
meeting, he said Microsoft might have to move some operations abroad if Congress
failed to approve more visas for skilled foreign workers.
The Microsoft chairman declined to speak to reporters, but stopped to tell
admiring House interns, "You probably know that I was a page."
Later, Gates took his vision of expanded access to technology and his mission to
improve childhood health in the poorest areas around the globe to the White
House, where Clinton hosted a daylong summit on the new economy.
Before the session began, Gates waited in the adjoining Green Room with other
panelists, chatting with Greenspan and Gene Sperling, head of the National
Economic Council. But he had no private meetings with administration officials.
While Gates steered clear of the antitrust case at the forum, his remarks echoed
a key point he and other Microsoft officials have made in defending their
business practices: that the industry his company has led deserves credit for
spurring innovation and competition across a variety of industries.
"This change is not just good for business. In fact if you had to pick who's the
big winner in all of this, you'd definitely have to pick consumers. Technology
is putting them in the driver's seat," he said.
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