Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: RE: MS vs the States
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 11:52:26 -0400
From: David Gurgel <DGurgel () energyfor com> To: "'farber () cis upenn edu'" <farber () cis upenn edu> Yes, I strongly agree with your concern over MS versus the states. Having flexed their muscles together on tobacco road these states attorneys general are pursuing (for political advantage and a certain brief notoriety) something they know little about. So now instead of the interesting spectacle of a gunfight on main street between Bill and Janet, we find a dozen guys first slowing the hero with cheap shots from the rooftops of the saloons. None of these guys would dare to draw on Bill one-on-one. There are of course legitimate concerns about abuses of market power; and the Microsoft matter needs to be played out in court. As is customary these days, the matter must first be presented by the media to the court of public opinion. I am concerned that in this court few seem well informed on the early history of Microsoft, and in particular the background of Bill Gates. They should at least read Manes' brief biography. I routinely make it required reading for new, young staff members who mindlessly have accepted the fashionable portrait of Gates as robber baron. Many of us can identify with Gates and Allen and those fantastic early days in 1975 as they prepared Basic for the Altair. To us Gates to us is more like a Tom Sawyer with brains. I suggest we find Altair's founder Ed Roberts, practicing medicine somewhere in Georgia I hear, and appoint him as a one-man tribunal. After sheltering the infant Microsoft and then being hammered by the youthful Gates over control of Microsoft Basic, Roberts is uniquely qualified to render an opinion. (I'll bet he lets him off.)
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- IP: RE: MS vs the States Dave Farber (Apr 26)