IP: Re: Microsoft[0] and Microsoft[1]

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

> Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 20:47:16 -0400
> From: "Lee W. McKnight" <lmcknigh () emerald tufts edu>
>
>
> This is an excerpt from my monthly column 'On Technology' for the business 
> weekly
> newspaper 'Mass High Tech.'  This and the rest of the story can be found 
> online
> next week at www.boston.com/mht.
>
> Lee McKnight
>
> > Meanwhile, down in DC, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, 
> stopping to sign autographs for fawning Congressmen, Senators, and 
> Cabinet Secretaries every few steps, are preparing to be led off to the 
> virtual jail for violators of the nation’s antitrust laws.  Perhaps they 
> will be asked to wear an electronic ankle bracelet to ensure Microsoft 
> does not move corporate headquarters across the border to Canada to 
> escape the long arm of the law.  (Both Microsoft and Canadian government 
> officials immediately denied a BBC news report that discussions were 
> underway for Microsoft to move its headquarters from Seattle to Vancouver 
> to prevent the feds from executing their plan to bust the company up ­ 
> but who knows whether the Canadians may have just lost out to a better 
> offer from the much warmer and sunnier Cayman Islands?) All kidding 
> aside, only Microsoft’s business practices and possibly its structure 
> will be affected, of course.  The rate of innovation will either explode 
> or implode as a result of this court case, depending on whom you believe.
> >