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

To: Ibexx who wrote (12441)	11/22/1998 7:13:00 AM
From: Ibexx	Respond to of 74651

Saturday November 21 7:50 PM ET Friedman: Silicon Valley "suicidal" to back antitrust suit against MS By Maria Seminerio, ZDNet SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Those in Silicon Valley who encouraged the U.S. Department of Justice to take on Microsoft Corp. for alleged antitrust violations are exhibiting "suicidal" tendencies, according to Milton Friedman. The Nobel Prize-winning economist says he can't understand why they've done it. Friedman, who won the Nobel in 1976 and is now a researcher at Stanford University, said in an address Saturday at The Cato Institute's "Washington D.C. vs. Silicon Valley Conference on Technology and Society" that high-tech companies which now support the DOJ action are likely to regret it later on. If the government wins the case and forces concessions from Microsoft, the business climate for its competitors will be a more restrictive one than it is today, meaning fewer innovations and lower profits for all players, Friedman maintained. "By the time the government's case is done, who knows how the industry will look?" he said. "And furthermore, it could open the door to more government regulation of the technology industry overall." Friedman said he began his career in economics as an enthusiastic supporter of antitrust laws, but that he came to change his mind over time, concluding that the laws stifle companies from competing effectively. "The antitrust laws in this country have done the opposite of promoting competition, as they were intended to do," he said. "I eventually decided they do more harm than good and that we should not have them. In the meantime, we do have them, but is it really wise for Silicon Valley to sic the government on Microsoft?" The themes touched upon by Friedman were extensions of those stressed by other speakers at the two-day conference sponsored by the Libertarian think tank and was attended by a diverse group of academics, technology company executives, and Libertarian political activists. While most speakers were equally insistent as Friedman that the DOJ case against Microsoft can only harm the industry, some have insisted that keeping potentially predatory monopolies in check is in keeping with free market theories. Friedman said he's spent several years trying to figure out why private industry doesn't do more to promote the idea of diminishing government regulation, and said he hasn't yet found the answer. "While public opinion has shifted away from the idea of strong government control, government is in fact getting bigger," Friedman said. "I have to confess I don't know why this is, and that it needs some explanation." Ibexx