"Oracle Corp.'s defense for hiring a dirty-tricks firm to go through the trash of Microsoft-friendly advocacy groups is that Oracle specifically ordered its hench firm not to do "anything illegal." What a stirring moral exemplar for the children. It belongs right up there with "no controlling legal authority."
Some excerpts from an editorial in the WSJ, June 29, 2000
"Larry Meets Terry"
interactive.wsj.com
"Oracle's official mouthpiece also brayed that "Left undisclosed, these Microsoft front groups could have improperly influenced the outcome of one of the most important antitrust cases in U.S. history." How laughable. The Independent Institute and the National Taxpayers Union were defending free-market policies long before Oracle developed its interest in political cash-giving and the seamier ways of business activism. "Yes, Microsoft supports groups that support Microsoft". .."These groups value "ideological consistency. They win support precisely because they aren't for sale. These groups are on the opposite "ethical spectrum " from groups as the IGI.
"Larry Ellison, whose narcissistic behavior has been detailed at length ...accords a grand dimension to his slimy antics, claiming he was doing his "civic duty" by making sure the antitrust trial wasn't tainted by dangerous svengalis like Independent Institute chief David Theroux, whose letter appears in our columns today. Such cynical guff is a disguise, of course, for an attack on free speech.
The groups attracting the attentions of the smelly Mr. Lenzner are hardly the only ones questioning the government's anti-Microsoft jihad. Larry Summers, the Treasury Secretary, went out to Silicon Valley recently to give a speech that conspicuously sounded like a defense of Microsoft. Should we expect to see Mr. Ellison hanging around Treasury now in his Armani shades looking through the garbage? We're still waiting for somebody at the Justice Department to check out the charges that some of the anti-Microsoft information leaked to the press came from laptops stolen from the offices of the Independent Institute.
Ellison's incessant lobbying has been aimed prospectively at forestalling the emergence of a rival, in Washington, rather than in the marketplace. If Bill Gates had done this, then pawed through his adversaries' trash, he would be led away in handcuffs.
All this is something for voters to think about in November. Today's amazing economy was built by entrepreneurs and inventors testing their ideas in the marketplace, not sabotaging each other in Washington. It's also a sad commentary on the real nature of the Clinton cultural contribution to the economic boom generated by the American people."
interactive.wsj.com
interactive.wsj.com
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"Aside from the outrageousness of these unnecessary "remedies" where do people get the idea that Microsoft’s operating system is theirs to break up? Neither the Eighth Commandment nor the common law have footnotes excusing stealing whenever it supposedly "promotes competition." These alleged "solutions" amount to naked wealth redistribution, selfish and unethical attempts to resolve make-believe consumer harm." "The Best Microsoft Remedy" cei.org
"The Windows source code was created by Microsoft’s own investments and effort. Microsoft only gains large market shares for products whose quality consumers independently rate highly. The bundled Microsoft Network online service, which was to have vanquished America Online, never did. Microsoft’s applications programs have large market shares in the Macintosh market, where Microsoft does not supply the operating system, which contradicts claims that it illegally maintains its monopoly through the operating system. As far as predatory pricing, software prices have fallen by an average of 15 percent since 1991 in markets in which Microsoft offers no products, but by a whopping 65 percent in markets in which Microsoft does offer products." "The Case Against the Case Against Microsoft" cei.org
"Even if you aren’t one of these shareholders, you should be appalled when the Justice Department tries to re-allocate somebody’s property based on some bizarre concept of competition. Because your property could be next".
techcentralstation.com
"Free markets, not Regulators Continue to Drive the Internet Industry"
Says James DeLong: "Those immersed in the topic [of property rights] think that governments at all levels—local, state, federal, and international—have become cavalier in attitude and action, not just willing but eager to ignore both the letter and the spirit of the commandment in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that says "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." In consequence, the right to own and use private property, a right that constitutes one of our most crucial civil liberties, essential to the economic efficiency of our society and to its moral ordering and legitimacy, is being undermined.
We cannot maintain our prosperity and freedom if the government regards property rights as subjects of whimsy to be cut and trimmed according to political interest rather than as matters of enduring principle. Of course, one of the ways in which governments meddle with property rights, for better or worse, is through antitrust enforcement. The current structure of antitrust doctrine is not up to the task." There is certainly not enough to be sure of complying with what should be the first rule of antitrust policy, as it is of medicine: "First of all, do no harm."
house.gov STATEMENT BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES, JAMES V. DeLONG, April 12, 2000
Quotes from a familiar 'obsessed delusional competitor: SCOTT MCNEALY, CEO, SUN MICROSYSTEMS, in an interview on CNN Moneyline, the day after Jackson's ruling. cnn.com
McNealey: "What has happened is all of a sudden we have scrutiny. And with scrutiny, you have a very, very different opportunity. Because the DOJ has stepped in and said, hey, we're going to referee this thing, people are now comfortable that they can operate freely and competitively and openly."
FRANCIS: "Is there any sense of apprehension at the prospect of greater government involvement in your industries?"
MCNEALY: " This law has been on the books for 100 years. It's been enforced very judiciously (sic), very conservatively (sic)and very effectively (sic) for a hundred years. "Somebody just got pulled over and given a ticket, in fact, you know, maybe they're going to take their license away for a while .. That doesn't change government intervention. You want government enforcement of laws." DUH
What is really pathetic is how a clueless "puppet" of a judge and a DOJ obsessed with controlling the high tech industry have accepted word for word the remedies spouting from the mouths of jealous irrational hate-filled competitors.
And no, Abbigail, I don't work for Microsoft :-)
Happy July 4th |
