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To: Dermot Burke who wrote (18939)	5/8/1998 12:22:00 AM
From: Exciton	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 24154

To All: Email Your Senator/Congressmen regarding DOJ and Microsoft! I just Emailed the following letter to my Congressman and Senators. Hope others will do the same. Dear Congressman, I am appealing to you to stop the Justice Department's harassment of Microsoft. Although the rhetoric from the Justice Department, Microsoft's competitors, and the recent hearings chaired by Senator Hatch, seemed designed to convey the impression that everyone hates Microsoft, I for one am outraged at the way this highly competitive engine for economic growth is being treated. Yes, I am a stockholder in the company and proud of it. This company has revolutionized computing and has been in no small part responsible for the tremendous growth of information technology and the US economy in general. Furthermore, this growth is in part responsible for the fact that the US Government now has a balanced budget. Instead of punishing Microsoft, and as a result the information industry in general, the US Government should be giving them an award. If Justice wants to go after a real monopoly, how about going after the US Post Office. This case has everything to do with political maneuvering and very little to do with seeking Justice. Netscape had a flawed business plan from the beginning, has changed that plan three times in as many years, and now, since it can't beat Microsoft in the market, it is resulting to political lobbying. Jim Barksdale, CEO of Netscape, is a better lobbyist than Bill Gates--I will give him that. He managed to get Senator Boxer to make the initial push to get Justice involved. He used his ties to Senator Lott--old college friends from the University of Mississippi--to turn up the rhetoric and have hearings sheduled. These hearings, of course, were led by Senator Hatch from Utah--home of Microsoft rival Novell. Via Lott's connections he also managed to get former Senator Dole and Robert Bork involved in the legal maneuverings. Now that's an impressive list of people. Unfortunately, none of them know anything about the information industry, computer operating systems, internet browsers, programming languages, or the competitive dynamics of the computer industry. They were easy prey for a very slick Mr. Barksdale. Aside from the specifics of the case, I am also concerned about precedents that the Justice Department and the the FTC may be setting. Are we setting ourselves up for an environment where every company that has failed to compete effectively with the dominant company in its industry can get the Justice Department to tear down its rival? I'm already hearing rumblings that Justice wants to go after Intel next. This evening, I heard on the radio that Pepsi may appeal to the Justice Department to investigate Coke. AT&T and MCI suggested today that they may push for legal action against an alliance between US West and QWEST Communications. I am deeply concerned that this is getting out of hand. These cases make Justice feel powerful and employ lots of Washington lawyers and consequently build in incentives to investigate more successful companies. Successful companies in turn end up wasting valuable time and manpower in court or trying to build a political lobbying machine to counter their critics. Finally, given the rapid rise in individual investing--ironically, enabled in part by Microsoft--I have serious doubts about the objectivity of Justice Department officials investigating this case. Has every person in this case disclosed his/her investment portfolio. I have a sneaking suspicion that many of them are or have been investors in Microsoft's competitors such as Netscape and Sun Microsystems or have short positions in Microsoft. If this isn't illegal, it sure should be. Are there divestment rules that apply here and has anyone verified that they are being followed in this case? I would greatly appreciate any assistance that you can provide.

To: Dermot Burke who wrote (18939)	5/8/1998 12:35:00 AM
From: Exciton	Respond to of 24154

To All: Congressional Email Addresses Can be found at: house.gov senate.gov

To: Dermot Burke who wrote (18939)	5/8/1998 1:02:00 AM
From: Gerald R. Lampton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

DEJA-VU: "PepsiCo Alleges Coca-Cola Violated U.S. Antitrust Law" interactive.wsj.com I especially liked the following passage: Pepsi said in its suit that as it has made an aggressive push to make inroads in this business, "Coca-Cola embarked upon a strategy to use its market power to perpetuate its monopoly by threatening food-service distributors with the loss of Coke if they dare to carry Pepsi for their customers that want Pepsi, and by cutting off any distributors that decide to carry Pepsi anyway." Then there's the kicker: . . . several industry executives said Pepsi's lawsuit is risky for it could prompt regulatory scrutiny of the entire industry and Pepsi itself could get enmeshed in a broad investigation. Robert Bork, phone home! ;)