To: Rusty Johnson who wrote (23215 ) 4/9/1999 7:46:00 PM From: Daniel Schuh Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Rusty, I used to bring up the Microsoft-Intel contrast fairly regularly here. Shut up and let the lawyers handle it, was my free legal advice to Bill & Co. Bill had a different strategy in mind. Like the intricacies of Windows and browser-OS integration (or should that be software formerly known as browser-OS integration? or maybe software formerly known as browser- software formerly known as OS integration?), the Microsoft legal strategy was beyond the comprehension of mere mortals! If Microsoft loses, companies will crawl out of the woodwork to sue over its business practices. Much of the heavy lifting already has been done. "From Paris to Jakarta to Tokyo, every class action lawyer in the world is watching this case with bated breath," Dershowitz says. Intel Corp., Microsoft's cool-tempered ally, recently settled its own antitrust case with the FTC. It suffered nary a scratch. Microsoft apparently hopes to do the same. Two words for that: fat chance. Just one problem: Microsoft's overture only annoyed prosecutors, who said the company should be talking to them, not to the press. Later in the week, when Microsoft delivered a settlement offer, government lawyers called it a joke. "They think they're being cute," one insider said.
