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To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (19435)	5/20/1998 11:35:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 24154

Government Suit Against Microsoft Shaping Up as Battle for Public Opinion nytimes.com Hearts and minds, always my favorite angle of course. "Trying to block Windows 98 would have been the 'Hail Mary' approach to this case, a huge risk," said Robert Litan, a former senior Justice Department official who is an economist at the Brookings Institution, a research organization. So the Government and the states agreed on a different strategy. In their suits filed here on Monday, they argue that the case against Microsoft is really about the nation's economic future. The suits assert that Microsoft is using the monopoly power enjoyed by its Windows operating system to fend off competition unfairly and to extend its monopolistic reach into the new markets of Internet commerce and software. Yet even if Microsoft is guilty of such misconduct, the present economic harm would seem to be slight, beyond the damage done to the company's rivals. The Government and states, however, contend that unless steps are taken now to level the playing field, consumers will suffer in the future because Microsoft will gain a chokehold on the Internet economy as people increasingly do everything from buying cars and airplane tickets to watching movies and reading news on the Internet, whether through computers, digital television or some hybrid device. See, this is one of these small mind things. That last paragraph is what Reggie's always telling us is inevitable, except in the antitrust context, of course. And before my first hand exposure to the integrity and uniformity of the Windows95 experience, it's what bothered me most about Microsoft. I'll have to leave it to the larger hobgoblin-free minds on the other side to explain it all. One more little snippet from the end: A deposition from a Microsoft executive stated, "Bill Gates initially strongly opposed giving America Online access to the Windows desktop, stating that doing so would be tantamount to 'putting a bullet through MSN's head.' " Even so, Gates later changed his mind and made the deal with America Online for one simple reason -- to increase Microsoft's share of the browser market. Lest we forget what's going on here. MSN- the old proprietary lock. Long live the new proprietary lock! Cheers, Dan.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (19435)	5/20/1998 11:44:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 24154

Inside Beltway, Microsoft Sheds Image as Outsider nytimes.com Near as I can tell, this says that Microsoft isn't exactly a newcomer to the lobbying game, and it's hardly being outspent by rivals either. I guess they're just not spending their money that wisely. How could that be, given Microsoft's brilliance in all matters. They'll get it all straightened out by version 3 or 4, or maybe they'll get Rick back in his old job after Y2K. Only a few years ago, Microsoft was hardly a blip on the Washington screen. It ranked No. 16 among all computer companies in campaign contributions in the 1991-92 election cycle, with a paltry $53,000 in donations to federal candidates and parties. Today, it is No. 1, having given $298,219 as of last April in the 1997-98 cycle, including some $99,000 in software to the Republican Party. And $100,000 more in donations is now on its way to the Republicans. While those sums may seem puny by the standards of other major corporations -- AT&T has given $1.1 million in the current election cycle -- Microsoft is spending a lot more than its biggest rivals. Netscape Communications Corp. has handed out only $35,000 in the current election cycle, Sun Microsystems Inc. gave $12,000 and giant IBM, once the top computer-industry donor, has made donations of $37,000. After Microsoft, the biggest donor in the computer industry is now Oracle Corp., which has given $218,000. Three years ago, Microsoft, which is based in Redmond,Wash., had no lobbying office in Washington. Today, its lobbying bill runs to the millions -- $1.1 million in 1996 and $1.9 million in 1997, the most recent year for which data are available. There's that politically naive Bill again, supposedly way late to the game. Another 6 months, he'll have it down, we're assured. Maybe he was just paying too much attention to the personal touch with all the foreign dictators and "Asian values" types. Cheers, Dan.