IP: RE: MS vs the States

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

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.)