the best justice money can buy --Lessig suspended
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the best justice money (and politics) can buy
I really do not believe this --this is bought justice as appeals courts never, or at least rarely such as a blatant in the case of a blatant error in a capital murder criminal trial, interfere with a sitting federal judge. the damage is immense; it delays the first round of adjudication by at least 5 months. if I were Joel Klein I would go for the jugular and file action for an immediate divestiture of M$ including injunctions against operations and management by Bill Gate$ and Steve Ballmer. the appeals court would probably suspend the actions, but they would still be there and on the table. Jackson at this point will be furious --hopefully he keeps total cool. the obvious next move on the part of M$ will be to have Jackson disqualified for bias. that will make 2 judges in the DC circuit who M$ has wasted. Royce Lambert refused to accept the 1994 plea bargain --obviously M$ would ask him to recuse if his name came out of the barrel; theoretically, cases are assigned by lottery --in reality, you can influence the choice of a judge as the cases are assigned at the time of filing by rotation. --M$ obviously is capable of shopping for a judge. at this point, I would say M$ has won the game. W98 will be released with IE4 as the desktop, complete with push channels and www.msn.com --at that point, Jackson --if he is still the sitting judge-- will be forced to make a bad law decision if he tries to block it on the 1994 agreement: the product is 'integrated' --M$ had the foresight to hoodwink the DOJ --Royce Lambert saw through the smoke screen but the appeals court removed him from the case. so... we will have multiple choice of OS: M$ on Intel, M$ on SGI, M$ on Alpha --and SUN goes down the tubes as they will never capitulate. M$ will bury IBM with their NT alliance with Ahmdal who clones all the IBM iron --which is fading against the clustered servers. IBM long since gave in on OS/2 versus M$ --it may figure in their corporate strategy, but unless they are willing to update past Netscape 2.02 they will lose that as well --in fact you can no longer any of the IBM PCs with OS/2 preloaded --except by special order: in quantity. Bill Gate$ for President? might as well... maybe Lee Harvey Oswald will come to the rescue. Lessig appointment suspended By Dan Goodin, C|Net February 2, 1998, 6:40 p.m. PT A federal appeals court has immediately suspended the appointment of a contested computer expert charged with collecting and weighing evidence in the antitrust case the Justice Department has brought against Microsoft. In a ruling handed down late Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted Microsoft's request to halt, pending further review, the proceedings before visiting Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson appointed Lessig a "special master" in mid December, giving the computer and Internet law expert until May 31 to recommend factual and legal findings in the high-profile case. The one-page ruling is a significant--but by no means final--win for Microsoft, which repeatedly has objected to Lessig's appointment. In briefs filed first in district court and then with the court of appeals, Microsoft strenuously has opposed the designation of any special master in the case, but has argued further that Lessig is an inappropriate choice because he appears to be biased against the software giant. In a sternly worded order issued two weeks ago, Jackson denied Microsoft's request, calling the allegations of bias "trivial" and "defamatory." Today's ruling by the court of appeals is in stark contrast to Jackson's order, and may indicate that the three-judge panel assigned to hear matters in the case sees things in a different light. Rather than permanently halting the proceedings, today's ruling is an agreement only to consider Microsoft's challenge to the special master--known in legal parlance as a writ of mandamus. In a sign that the judges may be inclined to agree with Microsoft's arguments on the issue, however, they handed Redmond an additional win by immediately halting the proceedings scheduled to take place before Lessig while the challenge is being heard. "It is extremely unusual for a court of appeals to reach down and stop what a district court has ordered," said Rich Gray, an antitrust attorney at Bergeson, Eliopoulos, Grady & Gray. "The court of appeals is saying, 'We're interested in hearing more about this, and in the meantime, we're going to put the special master on hold.'" A Microsoft spokesman agreed. "This is a very positive step, but it's only one small step in a long process," said Jim Cullinan. "We look forward to presenting our evidence to the appeals court as well as the trial court." The court of appeals already had agreed to hear a separate appeal, in which Microsoft is fighting a preliminary injunction Jackson issued in December that requires Microsoft to separate browser software from its Windows products. Today's ruling consolidates both motions into the same April 21 hearing. It also requires both sides to file additional briefs concerning the special master challenge by April 7. Moreover, the government must file its opposition to Microsoft's appeal of the preliminary injunction by March 2, and Microsoft must respond to that brief by March 9. 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I very strongly disagree with Attila the Hun on his views about Microsoft. But I won't argue the case here. My comments below are just on some specific points. His general outlook I am completely at odds with. At 7:49 AM -0800 2/3/98, Attila T. Hun wrote:
at this point, I would say M$ has won the game. W98 will be released with IE4 as the desktop, complete with push channels and www.msn.com --at that point, Jackson --if
On this we agree. Microsoft cannot lose at this point. NT 5.0 and Windows 98 are presumably coming, and will be on 97% of all desktops. The issue of Netscape's browser is mostly meaningless, anyway, from a revenue standpoint. Navigator is now free for all users. Unless Big Brother tells MS what it must sell its browser for--shades of the "Anti Dog-eat-Dog Law" in "Atlas Shrugged"--it is likely to remain this way. (The real issue is going to be Web servers. Whether Netscape can prosper in the world that is coming is unclear.)
so... we will have multiple choice of OS: M$ on Intel, M$ on SGI, M$ on Alpha --and SUN goes down the tubes as
I wouldn't be so sure about these choices, either! SGI is hedging their bet on the MIPS processor family by porting to Intel processors and NT. (I predict SGI will drop the MIPS line for workstations and desktops, leaving the MIPS chips for Nintendo 64 and other such controller-oriented uses.) And Compaq has announced plans to acquire DEC, so the future of the Alpha processor is even more in doubt than before. (News reports are that the deal Intel made with DEC may be killed by this Compaq deal...and even if both deals go through, Compaq is unlikely to deviate in a major way from the Intel processor line.) Even Sun has announced major plans to port Solaris to the Intel Merced line. (They've long had ports...I mean a _serious_ port. Probably meaning a move away from the SPARC line.) So, we've got: -- MS on Intel-based systems from all major PC makers -- MS on Intel-based systems from DEC -- MS on Intel-based systems from SGI -- MS on Intel-based systems from H-P -- Solaris and H-PUX (or whatever H-P's UNIX is called) on Intel Merced And so on. (I've left out the PowerPC, as it appears now to be limited solely to the Macintosh market...even IBM and Motorola appear to have acknowledged its failure.) Looks to me like Intel is the real winner here. (And even Intel's competitors in the "Intel compatible" market are struggling, unable to make the chips. I've written about this several times. Just yesterday National Semiconductor admitted that its Cyrix chip unit was losing sales, falling further behind, having huge losses, and not producing needed new chips. Meanwhile, PC makers who foolishly committed designs to the AMD design are unable to deliver....CyberMax committed to the K6 line and is now unable to ship its only product, as the limited number of chips AMD can make are trickled out to other companies.) As for Attila's calls to break up MS...could make Bill Gates immensely wealthier, as he'd then have a piece of the 5 most successful software companies! (I assume Attila is not arguing for simply seizing his property and giving it to others, or running it as a government company, or just padlocking the doors....) --Tim May "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway." ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^3,021,377 | black markets, collapse of governments.
On Tue, 3 Feb 1998, Tim May wrote:
(I've left out the PowerPC, as it appears now to be limited solely to the Macintosh market...even IBM and Motorola appear to have acknowledged its failure.)
Unless I've missed some absolutely major announcement, IBM is betting on the PowerPC in all their servers. Well, at least in their RS/6000 and AS/400, which is pretty much their entire high-end market. The PowerPC never had a serious entry into the desktop market anywhere but the Macintosh to my knowledge. Ryan Anderson - Alpha Geek PGP fp: 7E 8E C6 54 96 AC D9 57 E4 F8 AE 9C 10 7E 78 C9 print pack"C*",split/\D+/,`echo "16iII*o\U@{$/=$z;[(pop,pop,unpack"H*",<> )]}\EsMsKsN0[lN*1lK[d2%Sa2/d0<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<J]dsJxp"|dc`
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- on or about 980203:1222, in <v03102802b0fd25414459@[207.167.93.63]>, Tim May <tcmay@got.net> was purported to have expostulated to perpetuate an opinion:
As for Attila's calls to break up MS...could make Bill Gates immensely wealthier, as he'd then have a piece of the 5 most successful software companies!
after they extract the usual treble damages in antitrust litigation, Bill will probably retain significant assets, but he probably would not top the list of the very wealthy, and might not even make it.
(I assume Attila is not arguing for simply seizing his property and giving it to others, or running it as a government company, or just padlocking the doors....)
no, in fact, if there were a free market remedy for M$' monopoly, I would be in favour of it --and there is _no_ free market remedy and failure to act promptly conceivably wipe out all, or virtually all, of the viable competitors. the purpose of antitrust legislation is solely to remedy an injustice caused by a private market segment which became a monopoly. divestiture for M$ would generally be along the lines of AT&T except it would focus on divisions rather than regions; secondly, it would obviously restrict Gate$ involvement in more than one despite any stock ownership and might require Bill: a) to sell all stock in units he does not control; b) take his payout in stock from one unit only (less negative market); or, c) he may not have enough left after Sherman Act penalties to be a major stockholder --he might actually need to suffer through stockholders meetings like the rest of the CEOs. I would never advocate seizing assets for redistribution vis a vis Mugabe or whatever the despot's name is --what a waste-- if uncle Sam redistributed we would have Microsoft-Harlem, Microsoft-Watts, etc. shit, I had to stop typing after the mirth of that thought! as for the government running _anything_ --how far do we need to look for the nearest government excess and total mismanagement, featherbedding, and corruption? not far (you, Tim, on a non-clear day cant see very much from your hilltop --out here on the high desert ridges in So. Utah it is CAVU the vast majority of the time-- and I still cant see any as Feds are like Revenuers in KY). there are multiple issues: 1. Microsoft's almost good enough (for the market) operating systems which probably should be considered what we called firmware 25 years ago. at this point >90% of the platforms run M$ in one form or another and as you acknowledge, SGI, DEC, and so on are all hedging their bets --which will become reality as soon as they open the floodgates. in software, the sheeple follow the Judas goat to Redmond. 2. Microsoft "software" a) office suite --already 95% of desktop market b) data base --maybe should be included in a) but Oracle, Sybase, IBM, etc have large installed bases at a much higher cost per unit on servers c) browser --certainly will be at 80% before year end as all OEMs so far have indicated they will not cross M$ and switch. that leaves the rest of it up to the ISPs who could care less. d) back office --M$ moving in on this one real fast and it is now part of NT distribution-- which then requires the browser and webserver for installation and maintenance. e) web servers, firewalls, routers, etc. --M$ is already getting the web servers with NT distributions and is poised to tackle firewalls and router dominance. I question that they can ever configure NT on any hardware to do routing/switching effectively, efficiently, or competitively against dedicated hardware given the new >1G switches. 3. M$ in cable systems. cable systems are always cash poor from infrastructure expense. M$ is buying in and therefore influencing the choice of settops --and their format-- witness TCI. this further establishes M$ in the determination of standards --obviously to the detriment of everyone else-- and the FCC has mandated the boxes must be compatible across the board in a couple years and we all know who negotiates dirty and hard the only saviour in this one may be Time-Warner which so far is moving ahead with its 2way cable system from Scientific Atlanta with a sparc chip, etc. T-W has 2.5 million boxes on order and is planning extensive deployment 3rd quarter which is at least 12 months before M$ can even beta test with TCI 4. content... a) msn which so far is harmless, but what would happen if Gate$ absorbed Assholes on Line? or really pushed MSN at POS and OEM. b) msnbc which apparently still enjoys editorial censorship only from the usual channels of our non-free press. c) reference bookshelf in which the latest revision of the EnCarta encyclopediae described Gate$ as a "philanthropist" --cheap son of bitch only coughed $100 million towards school internet as long as it was M$ product. he may have been better termed a misogynist (before he was married) given his terms of usage.... content is where we really start to worry more than Bill's money, which has already bought influence: the WSJ editorial page article by Bill striking back at the DOJ, the NYTimes column, the books, and the rest of the demigod worshipping media. Gate$' fortunes have been changing: Gate$ now has for more enemies than his money can buy friends. even the SPA has turned against him with their white paper on fair competition which is a direct shot across Gate$' bow --and Gate$' response was that their membership in SPA might not be renewed in August --economic threat. The DOJ has expanded their scope and will probably file significant actions shortly (hopefully before the 21 Apr appeals court hearing) next are the states, eleven so far including NY, TX, IL and CA where they have very definitely aggressive AGs. and CA's is pissed over the sweetheart deal the CSU system gave M$ to supply everything as the "official vendor" of the CSU system which has 20+ campi and how many million students? complain about a McDonalds' generation? shit, that's only your stomach, not your mind --and at least there are other choices for food --I personally have never eaten at McDonalds; of course, that does not say much as I have never owned a television, either. we already have an M$ generation. they all learned on PCs and they all programmed to PCs and windows with their private APIs. this is exactly what creating a positive feedback, self-enhancing market place does: McDonalds grabbed their stomachs with their playgrounds, etc. and M$ twists their minds. BOTTOM LINE: Gate$ manipulation, scheming, red-dog contracts, etc. make Cornelius Vanderbilt look like a choir boy. Gate$ style of management with Steve Ballmer as the heavy and Gate$ trying to cover his geekness as the "aw shucks" boy next door has had the curtain pulled to show what technically amounts to a legal "conspiracy" to dominate multiple markets, both vertically and horizontally. as such, M$ and their executives actions fall directly under the guidelines of part B of the Sherman Antitrust act which includes the usual penalties of divestiture, treble damages, and _criminal_ penalties. secondly, M$ and Gate$, if convicted of violating part 2, could then be construed as a "corrupt" meaning malicious intent the difference between misfeasance and malfeasance is that in the latter you were intentionally fucked which qualifies for RICO prosecution as well. in addition to the extremely severe criminal penalties, RICO does provide for confiscation of ill gotten assets --this would apply to Gate$ monetary gains, including his stock, which could be forfeited. frankly, I think it would be most amusing to see Gate$ and Ballmer receiving the customary "3 hots and a cot" for such offenders and to need to work for a living like the rest of us when they earn their freedom. the fact that RICO could apply does not mean that it will be trundled out --but it would be fitting justice. I will never denigrate Gate$ determination to build M$ and to proliferate the computer, which he did, a little too well. --but Gate$ crossed the line: Gate$' instinct set him on the path that competition means forcing everyone and their ideas (those that he did not steal, literally or figuratively) from the marketplace --Bill can not compete; he must "own" the market. William Henry Gates III expects to be crowned "William III" --see my rant on 16 Oct. on DejaVu or: http://www.primenet.com/~attila/rants/gates/7a16-ms_monopoly.html not to be crass about it, but Gate$ has served his purpose and outlived his usefulness --his defense against the DOJ, his further market actions while under attack, and his intent to trump the moot with Win98 are actions of a petty dictator; give Bill a shiny new uniform from a Napoleanic banana republic and let him prance around. any more of Gate$ not only becomes tiresome, but hazardous to our health. give me the hook... there is no free market remedy for M$' control of the market place as the consumer will not boycott something which a) costs them money do so; and, b) for which there is no ready substitute. the only alternative is to apply the anti-trust laws in the general interests of society which does not mean government ownership or management. M$ stockholders may either make or lose money depending on the valuations the market assigns to each of the divested divisions --but that is a risk you take in the market if your greed exceeds your wisdom. ask any VC, whose greed is only exceeded by his fear. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: latin1 Comment: No safety this side of the grave. Never was; never will be iQBVAwUBNNjTgbR8UA6T6u61AQE9SAH/ZE9BRgenWbxD1mFsqj6qgHJ3hzKXbT6l wpDQd5U3sFje7QEMLVS7KzTRXLchMF+JYcHeuiB3hV3dmCCG7n8yRA== =JspT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Tim May wrote:
(The real issue is going to be Web servers. Whether Netscape can prosper in the world that is coming is unclear.) [snip] Looks to me like Intel is the real winner here.
Apache currently represents over 50% of the web servers in use. Even Microsoft can't compete with that. Microsoft's growth in web servers has been largely at Netscape's expense. So Netscape's move to the freeware market is not unexpected, but it's a bit late; they should have been pushing Linux/FreeBSD/etc to their NT customers long ago. The issue of differing tactics of Intel versus Microsoft has a lot to do with why Microsoft is getting scrutinized while Intel is largely being left alone, despite their similiar market share. The first difference is product quality. I have an Intel Pentium which has been working flawlessly for months. Microsoft Windows, on the other hand, can't go two days without getting screwed up in one way or another. Intel has had two or three major flaws in their products in the last few years (FDIV, F00F, and the fpu flag problem). Microsoft gets blamed for new flaws every week. Guess which company I have a higher opinion of? I am certainly not the only one who feels this way. Second, Microsoft is rude, arrogant, and offensive. They absolutely do not know when to quit, no matter how much bad publicity it gets them. Intel's behaviour hasn't been exemplary recently either, but they do know when to back off. Intel got in a little argument with Robert Collins a few years ago, but once the bad PR started, they left him alone. Microsoft, in contrast, has repeatedly harassed anti-microsoft web sites (such as www.micr0soft.com) kicked anti-microsoft people out of comdex, and so on. Like Scientology, such tactics usually only increase the attacks from critics. Intel's handling of the "slot 1" was a major mistake. Intel came off appearing to be a bully trying to squash competition, which earned them a lot of bad press. Settling with Cyrix/NatSemi was a smart move (which they should have done earlier). But at least Intel knew when to cut their losses and move on to other things. Contrast that with Microsoft's adamant, pig-headed pursuit of their bundling strategy; no matter how much bad publicity it gets them, they keep doggedly trying to shove it down people's throats. So next time you're meeting with Intel management, remind them that if they make quality products, their customers will be happy. If they sell lousy products and attack their opponents, they will get attacked back. (And Intel- please stop telling us about how great your secret proprietary bus interfaces are, we don't want to hear it, and it makes you look bad.)
participants (4)
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Attila T. Hun -
ghioï¼ temp0209.myriad.ml.org -
Ryan Anderson -
Tim May