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Technology Stocks : MSFT Internet Explorer vs. NSCP Navigator -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Keith Hankin who wrote (21706)	11/23/1998 8:51:00 PM
From: Bearded One	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Another Item from the DOJ Exhibits: This one is from a presentation given by Paul Maritz on February 22, 1996. It's at usdoj.gov I'm typing in one slide that indirectly tells us something about Microsoft's historical strategy: SPECULATION: * Navigator 3.0 -- Q3 93 (Proprietary?) Security/Itentity: -Private newsgroups (w/ AOL?) -Personalized communication (Proprietary?) Commerce -information standards -payment standards *"Keep MS on treadmill": -Javascript object model tweaks (aka MS treadmill) -plug-in tweaks The key part here is the final bullet, "Keep MS on treadmill," along with the parenthesized "(aka MS treadmill)". Basically Paul here is admitting that Microsofts continual tweaking of API's was a strategic move to hurt competitors who relied on them. Keith, does the DOJ understand what the whole treadmill stuff is about and, in particular, what this slide signifies? I personally find it about the most explosive thing I've read (and I've gone through a LOT of the exhibits).

To: Keith Hankin who wrote (21706)	11/23/1998 9:18:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Well, that one was fairly content-free, Keith. I liked this bit near the end. "Does the government have the foggiest idea what to do about Microsoft?" Levy wondered. He spoke of US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's much-publicized courtroom demonstration when a clerk easily removed Internet Explorer from the operating system. "Do we really need the elephantine resources of the federal government for a 90-second task?" he asked. He reminded the audience of President Nixon's pursuit of "the goddamn television networks" to illustrate how the Justice Department has abused governmental power in the past to achieve political ends. Non sequitur city there. Remember how derisive everybody was about Jackson and the add/remove button when that first came up? Then, it just proved how dumb he was, to think he was really removing IE. Now, in this particular context, it means something else entirely. The bit about Nixon and the gd TV is even more "totally random" and "beyond bizarre". Nice that they got Friedmans father and son together, though. Cheers, Dan.