FC: Responses to DOJ and Microsoft agree to settle antitrust case

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous article:

"It's official: DOJ and Microsoft agree to settle antitrust case"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02741.html

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Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 10:47:04 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <cp () panix com>
To: politech () politechbot com
Cc: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: Re: FC: It's official: DOJ and Microsoft agree to settle antitrust 
case
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20011102095916.027f2430 () mail well com>

The following message may be distributed with my name attached if you
wish.

On Fri, 2 Nov 2001, Declan McCullagh wrote:

> just what did this lawsuit accomplish, beyond enriching lawyers,
> eating up tens of millions of tax dollars, and launching a flotilla of
> anklebiting private antitrust suits?

Declan, it accomplished a tremendous amount, all of it beneficial to the
federal government. First and most important, it reaffirmed the power of
the government. Before the Microsoft antitrust suit, Silicon Valley
entrepreneurs were acting as if they were immune from legislation. They
donated virtually nothing to political campaigns, and they shared a "screw
you" attitude toward DC. The Microsoft suit reminded everyone where the
real power is. I would expect considerably more expressions of humility
(bogus or otherwise) along with political contributions, in the future.
Regardless of the outcome of the suit, it demonstrated that the Justice
Department can impose such heavy legal costs, and can waste so much of a
company's time, anyone would be crazy to invite this kind of a major
hassle. Like a protection racket, anti-trust legislation warns companies
to behave themselves if they want to avoid being ruined. "Nice little
software business you have here. Be a shame if something happened to it."

The second accomplishment was to burst the bubble of "irrational
exuberance." The Microsoft suit marked the beginning of the end, in this
respect. It demonstrated that tech companies were not untouchable, not
immune from boring old realities of government and commerce. They could be
nibbled to death by financial pundits like anyone else, as well as being
harassed and threatened and sued into oblivion just like anyone else.

The major shifts in wealth, 2 to 3 years ago, must have caused alarm in
Washington, where people sincerely believe that they are the ones with the
real power, who run the country. They must have begun to feel--well,
potentially irrelevant.

And now--praise Allah!--they have terrorism to deal with. No matter that
their responses so far have been almost inconceivably incompetent: The
terrorist threat has made government seem necessary again. The focus of
attention has shifted from Silicon Valley back to Washington DC. The
military-industrial complex is singing "Happy days are here again" (sotto
voce, of course). And if this nasty little war slows progress in peaceful
uses of science (just as Vietnam pretty much killed the manned space
program), well, what could be better, from the point of view of
techno-illiterate federal legislators?

Microsoft is in the position of Winston Smith in 1984, after his period of
torture was complete. He could return to his everyday life and even have
liaisons with his former lover (contrary to state policy), because the
state had completed its punishment of him, had demonstrated its power, and
no longer had any interest in him. The exercise of power, purely for its
own sake, was the only point of the enterprise, according to Orwell.

Meanwhile, just as in 1984, we are now allying ourselves with our old
enemies (Russia, in particular) while vowing endless war against our old
friends (Bin Laden). Because, there is nothing better than war to distract
the population from private pleasurable goals and reorient everyone toward
Big Brother, who alone can protect us from the monsters he has created.

I hope this answers your question.

--Charles
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Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 10:44:19 -0500
To: declan () well com
From: Donald Weightman <dweightman () radix net>
Subject: Re: FC: It's official: DOJ and Microsoft agree to settle
  antitrust case
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20011102095916.027f2430 () mail well com>

The lawsuit might have accomplished a lot, but for the DOJ backpedaling in 
recent months. Aside from missing the chance to fence in Gates, there is 
now  with the settlement less than optimal clarity on what the legal regime 
is for industries with strong network effects.

dw

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Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 10:19:17 -0800
From: Michael Maynard <mmaynard () azipart com>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: It's official: DOJ and Microsoft agree to settle antitrust 
case

Declan - I've been on top of this case and has analyzed it in depth for
many years now. This settlement is gutless. It places no real restrictions
on Microsoft nor does anything to slow down its continued horizontal
or vertical market antitrust violations.

We should all be very scared about Microsoft's entry into the telephony/
telecom business. With the exception of owning assets in the local telephone
loop (which Time Warner AOL does), Microsoft can have complete worldwide
vertical telecom integration from the desktop through communications
hookups (local and satellite), the computer/telecom equipment used (NT Servers,
WinPhones) through Internet content (IE + MSN + Media Player) through 
programming
content (TiVo, MS-NBC).

The leveraging key is the control of 97% of desktop/laptop computers' operating
system. Unless forced to provide the Windows source code, so that Linux or
another operating system could provide a real-time, native interface to
Windows-based programs, Microsoft still has monopolistic control over the most
important areas of the industry - the desktop and server operating systems.

Hopefully, the state AG's will recognize this deal to be the sell-out that it
really is
and not sign on.

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Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 07:43:22 -0800
From: Norman MacLeod <gaelwolf () waypt com>
Organization: Gaelic Wolf Consulting
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: It's official: DOJ and Microsoft agree to settle antitrust 
case

Declan --

My personal take on this is that the United States government has decided 
that one of the nation's most successful corporations should not remain 
under legal pressure during a protracted war.  If you look at the "deal" 
with that in mind, I think you'll see some things jumping out at you that 
you might not otherwise notice on a cursory review.

...Just my opinion, of course...your mileage may vary...

   Norman MacLeod

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Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 10:43:09 -0500
From: Chris Farris <chris () room17 com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: Re: FC: It's official: DOJ and Microsoft agree to settle antitrust 
case

On Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 10:01:45AM -0500, Declan McCullagh wrote:
> [Well, so much for that. Anyone want to speculate on how different this
> deal is from what Microsoft has been offering in settlement talks since
> early 1998? If the differences are minimal and if the judge accepts this
> deal, then just what did this lawsuit accomplish, beyond enriching lawyers,
> eating up tens of millions of tax dollars, and launching a flotilla of
> anklebiting private antitrust suits? --Declan]

It helped crash the Nasdaq....

Chris

--
Chris Farris                            chris at room17.com     
PrimeHarbor Technologies                www.primeharbor.com                     
"I've taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me"
                                        -Winston Churchill

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