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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TTOSBT who wrote (46450)	6/12/2000 9:12:00 AM
From: BBG	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 74651

I think Cramer has a point in the following piece... Even if they don't really mean it MSFT should learn to be a little more diplomatic... ie. you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar... Microsoft Can't Spell R-E-S-P-E-C-T By James J. Cramer 6/12/00 8:53 AM ET When lawyers and judges get together these days-- and they do, because they have private lives -- they all talk about one thing: What the heck were the Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq - news - boards) guys thinking when they attacked Judge Jackson and Joel Klein? What kind of stupid "tactic" was that? For the most part, in the press, the trial was presented as being a fair battle between two opponents. Microsoft had a side, the government had a side. Microsoft had lawyers, the government had lawyers. Seemed like a classic battle. But that was all for public consumption. Behind the scenes, many of the people in the great complex that is the Justice Department and the Federal judicial system were appalled at the clan from Redmond. They were seething. They continue to seethe now that the company's new PR campaign is in the works to make Microsoft into the victim. Unless you know some of the folk who work for Justice or the bench in this country, you might think they are just a bunch of civil servants who couldn't get a job in the private sector if they wanted to. You might think they are people who work for the government because it is easy and fun with good benefits and not a lot of worry about advancement. I don't know. I went to Harvard and Harvard law school. I did great. But the people who did better than me at school all went to those government jobs. They weren't motivated by money. They were motivated by doing the right thing. They were motivated by working for the people of the United States. They thought guys like me, who were interested in going to private-sector jobs, were lightweights. They thought private-sector jobs were for those who didn't understand that some things were more important than money: like justice and fairness and equal opportunity. These guys wanted to do something that mattered. They are powerful opponents. They work virtually for free. That's scary to me. It should have been scary to Microsoft. What did this fraternity of the smartest people in the country want from Microsoft? Respect. A recognition of the power of the people. A grudging understanding that laws, not money, still rule in this country. This fraternity wanted Microsoft to keep its mouth shut. It wanted Microsoft to come to Washington and say, "Heck, maybe we were out of control. What can we do better? What should we be doing?" This fraternity knew it had the power all along to make that happen one way or the other. It never wanted things to get to where they are, believe me. It never expected that it would get to breakup. It kept expecting that Microsoft would stop acting like some Dickensian nightmare of a capitalist enterprise. But Microsoft didn't. It still hasn't. And now the fraternity, which includes every black-robed member of the Federal bench, including the Supreme Court, is angry. It doesn't care that you own Microsoft in your 401(k) or that Bill and Melinda give away millions. It doesn't care that Microsoft has created jobs and wealth and happiness. Heck, it wouldn't care right now if Microsoft broke into, "We are the World" and worked for world peace, a ban on land mines and a cure for cancer. To these folks, Microsoft is an outlaw -- the biggest outlaw that has come down the federal pike in their time working for the government. Sure, I am long Microsoft. I believe in the stock. But what the heck? This PR campaign, this pathetic attempt to gain public sympathy, it ain't flying with the people who matter: the people who wear black robes to work. These black-robed workers hate Microsoft. And they like Judge Jackson. He will do well when the appeals time comes. He is one of them. Because he represents the U.S. government, as they do. And because he was just doing his job. As they do. His verdict will be upheld on appeal. He will win. He played by the real rules, the code of conduct and respect that everyone must show the government. Microsoft didn't. And for these folks, the rules are all that matter.