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

To: Bearded One who wrote (7786)	5/21/1998 4:43:00 PM
From: Carlos Blanco	Respond to of 74651

>Sure, it is purely my opinion that IE 4.0 and Windows 95 are being illegally tied. It also happens to be the opinion of the DOJ and 20 State Attorney Generals. They have a right to their opinion and they have a right to a lawsuit. However it is my own humble opinion that neither the DOJ nor 20 attorney generals are infallible. The government, just like anyone else, has been proved wrong many times in the courts. In the end the only opinion that's truly going to count is the one from the judge(s). >I see a heady mixture of law and ethics here. Are we talking about what Microsoft has a right to do? Or what is legal for them to do? You seem to be saying that until a court explicitly says that a particular action is illegal, Microsoft has the right to perform that action. That is, Microsoft is not going to self-regulate themselves at all. Which is going to get them into lots and lots of trouble. People (& Microsoft) should be free to do whatever they think, in good conscience, is legal, and derive non-explicit rules from the rules that do exist. That's what I understand by self-regulation. However the law is not always clear, and different interpretations arise. A lawsuit can thus be brought to decide differences in opinions (as is the case here). Once this case is finished it will hopefully clear up the base ambiguities that would make self-regulation much more viable. You can't have self-regulation as long as huge differences of opinion exist as to what laws apply and what laws do not. Whether Microsoft is (or, as is my opinion, isn't) a monopoly is a clear example of something that needs to be ruled on by a judge in a definitive way ASAP, for the benefit of everyone, so that expectations, plans, and demands can be set accordingly. That's why I think that, regardless of motivations or outcome, this lawsuit will eventually be a good thing for the industry and for Microsoft. It will hopefully resolve a number of issues once and for all. --Carlos