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To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (18836)	4/30/1998 3:12:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 24154

State Attorneys General Plan Antitrust Suit Against Microsoft nytimes.com Since it hit the Times, I guess this news is finally fit to print. A lot of long standing themes get touched here. The attorneys general refused to say exactly what their suit would charge because the matter is still under investigation. But interviews with officials in all 13 states, as well as three other states that are monitoring the discussions, showed a common interest in preventing Microsoft from using its dominance in personal-computer operating systems to promote the sale of other software products. . . . A senior aide in another attorney general's office said "the problem we want to address is the exclusionary activities that involve tying and leveraging Microsoft's monopolistic position in operating systems to unreasonably restrain competition in other areas." . . . Microsoft has long said that its practice of integrating other software products was key to the company's future. After last week's federal appeals court hearing on the Justice Department suit against Microsoft, William Neukom, Microsoft's vice president for law and corporate affairs, said: "This case involves a fundamental principal for us, the freedom of high-technology companies to continue to innovate on behalf of our customers. Part of innovation has to be integration. We are going to continue to integrate products." There it is once more, standard Microsoft business practice (aka "innovation") vs. the long arm of the law. Murray, the Microsoft spokesman, said that blocking the release of Windows 98 "would be costly, disruptive to consumers, destructive to the high-technology industry, and it would undermine the strength and health of the U.S. economy." Yeah, yeah, the world in flames if Bill doesn't get his way. We've heard that one before, too. "In the Microsoft task force, it's remarkable how well 13 states are working together," said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. He is chairman of the Anti-Trust Task Force for the National Association of Attorneys General. "It's amazing how the same concerns popped up all over the country, crossing different party lines and different regions of the country," Condon said. Bill's bringing us all together! He's my hero, you know. But, [Condon, the South Carolina attorney general] added: "I suspect before our lives are over we will look back at this as the time when the ground rules are set for these industries. It could get rough; there's lots at stake here. But this could indeed be one of the most important cases of the NEXT century." And the next millennium - the Microsoft Millennium? Stay tuned. Cheers, Dan.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (18836)	4/30/1998 3:20:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Windows 98: Useful, but Not Likely to Cause a Rush nytimes.com Another big article from today's NYT, this one meanders a bit, sloppy editing for the Times. I will eschew the usual excerpts and leave you with the concluding sentence, it ties in well with the end of my preceding post. In the meantime, there is one more reason to consider upgrading to Windows 98: unlike its predecessor, Windows 98 will not go haywire when the calendar flips to 2000. Maybe I was wrong about NT5. Maybe Windows 98 is actually the OS for the Next Millennium. Cheeers, Dan.