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To: Gerald R. Lampton who wrote (21599)	11/20/1998 4:09:00 AM
From: Bearded One	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

I don't think there is more to this than meets the eye. This is my guess as to what happened and what is happening: We look at the Microsoft lawyer's strategy and say, "This looks like a losing strategy! They must have something up their sleeve, what are we missing?" But that assumes that there is some winning strategy out there that the lawyers know about. Ultimately, the lawyers have to pick a strategy, even if there is no winning strategy. They have to depose witnesses, they have to cross examine, they have to object, they have to file motions, they have to introduce evidence, etc.., even if there is no hope at the end of the tunnel. So they make the best of a bad situation and go with it. Rampant Speculation Alert: The lawyers know that they're going to lose this case. They have said this to the top management at Microsoft and have been begging them to settle with the DOJ for a long time. Neukom has probably been telling Gates to cool it for years, without success. He doesn't quit in disgust because, well, his shares have tripled in the last few years and he likes a challenge. So now the DOJ comes in with this massive lawsuit which the Microsoft lawyers know is a lock barring excessive stupidity on the part of the DOJ. They tell Gates "work with the DOJ or suffer the consequences." Gates says "I pay you to win cases for me. Win this one." So off they go, like the charge of the Light Brigade.