Making them eat their words... (while they watch!)

[Attila T. Hun]

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> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge Friday told Microsoft
> Corp.  he easily uninstalled the company's Web browser
> without breaking Windows 95 and ordered company officials to
> explain why they could not do the same.  "Windows 95
> functioned flawlessly" with Internet Explorer uninstalled,
> U.S.  District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson told Microsoft.
>
    mistake #1: dont piss off a federal judge --let alone 
    try to show that he is ignorant.
 
> After the hearing, Brad Smith, associate general counsel of
> Microsoft, was asked about news reports speculating that the
> company might settle the case.
> 
> "There's no discussion that I'm aware of," he said in a
> telephone interview, adding that he probably would know
> about such discussions.  "The case is continuing."
> 
    this is my one big fear: the DOJ will accept a plea
    bargain like they did last time and it will be back
    to business as usual for M$ --and they will be back in
    court within a year having gained even more horizontal
    and vertical control of the entire communications
    and information industries --and claiming again that
    they are misunderstood --and complying with the order, 
    etc.

    there is only one solution to organizations like M$ 
    which are operated without ethics: treat them to the
    pleasures of not only the antitrust laws but the 
    exquisite delights of RICO.

    M$ is a cancer; it has fully metasticized and is gorging   
    itself at the banquet of the vanquished.

    if the legal juggernaut keeps building momentum at the 
    current rate, there will hopefully be no alternative to
    carry the investigation to its culmination after the
    report of the special master in May. 

    the appointment of the special master was a clear 
    indication that the judge wishes to get at the bottom
    of the tank and examine the underpinnings and 
    motivations of M$ total modus operandi --yes, and M$ is
    crying foul that the judge is going past the original 
    complaint of the DOJ --but, despite M$' claims, the
    judge is giving M$ time to be heard --six months.

    seems to me Jackson inherited the case from Royce 
    Lamberth who was overruled and removed by the appeal 
    court when he refused to OK the DOJ settlement in 
    question. Gary Reback had a hand in educating Lambert
    to the dangers of M$.  Is Reback representing anyone 
    in the case before Jackson as an intervener or in an 
    amicus curiae brief?

    Lambert's at it again --taking the government head on
    over Hillary's obfuscation over her health care
    committee--

        "The White House and lawyers defending first lady 
        Hillary Rodham Clinton lied in an effort to keep
        internal working papers used to develop President
        Clinton's universal health care plan in 1993 secret,
        a federal judge said Thursday.

        "Using blunt language in a written order, U.S. 
        District Judge Royce C. Lamberth also accused
        administration officials at "the highest levels of
        government" of engaging in a "cover-up" and
        pressuring the Justice Department to defend its 
        "dishonest" actions."
 
    anyway, just think where M$ would be with Royce today!
    Gate$ and Ballmer might be down at the local MCC for a
    few free 3 hots and a cot, all expenses paid, "enjoying"
    a well earned vacation from screwing all of us.

    Other than the usual ills of a monopoly, what really 
    irks anyone with a modicum of intelligence is that Gate$    
    intends to migrate the entire package for the benefit of
    the couch potatoes; Gate$ intends to dictate not only
    what we use to view his trash, but that only his trash
    is splashed.

> Smith also said that the uninstall mechanism described by
> the judge actually left 97 percent of Internet Explorer
> intact, removing little more than the "icon" on the screen
> known as the "desktop." 
>
    so? M$ can fill any hard disk --the more powerful the
    computer, the more energy the pretty program loader on
    a boot sector virus base requires. what's a few spare
    bytes here and there?  So, Mr. Smith, just tell us what
    files are useless and we'll delete them too.

> He said that despite what Jackson said about the program
> functioning flawlessly, the removal breaks a couple of
> functions in Windows 95, such as the ability to easily
> download other Web browsers.  Smith said Windows 95 is a
> technologicially complex product that is best left alone
> by the government.  "You simply can't slice and dice it
> with a legal meat cleaver," Smith said.
> 
    well, maybe we can just "slice and dice it" right out 
    the market place. his arguments are pure mumbo jumbo for
    the unwashed --or, more of Gate$' usual arrogance.

 > 
    well, of course, you can not pull a web download if you
    remove the browser...  but you can get it with ftp, 
    rz, or standard mail via your ISP (if Netscape wants to
    make it available that way).  more blowing of smoke as
    usual. M$ would like us to believe that removing
    Explorer means that PPP, etc. plus basic net utilities
    must be removed as well. the browser is not the only
    program that uses the PPP or wired connection.

    whether or not the judge just removed the icon or not
    becomes irrelevant rather quickly...  the point is that
    he took the trouble to look at the issue after the DOJ
    came in complaining that M$ was giving him the freeway
    salute (both hands off the wheel, too). 

    Secondly, a judge is not prohibited from reading news
    analysis of the technical issues involved --particularly
    since the news articles are reflecting the complaints of
    the competition which has been injured by M$' actions,
    and the user groups who are complaining about all of M$'
    competition being literally expunged from the
    marketplace by M$' predatory actions. all of the news
    material is clearly relevant in an antitrust action.
    Even the NYTimes stated in an editorial M$ was defying
    the judges order and mocking the whole process.

> The Justice Department, however, is beefing up its legal
> team.  It has retained David Boies, a highly regarded New
> York lawyer, to help try the case against Microsoft.
> 
    yes, I would say they are serious, and paying close to 
    $300 per hour for his time --but only half his usual 
    rate.

    keep in mind that his fee is just the tip of the iceberg
    --consider the enormous staff the man will require just
    to paw through and analyze the mountains of information
    on both sides plus the obvious tactic of burying the 
    case in even more mounds of paperwork from M$' legal
    flunkies, which probably number between 200 and 500 full
    blown lawyers culled from most of the prestigious firms
    in the US. then add support staff, researchers, clerks, 
    etc....

    I doubt Boies will use that many DOJ staff attorneys
    --lack of performance as the good ones leave after the
    initial intern experience for the extra bucks in private 
    firms on the other side of the table.  only the lazy and
    incompetent hang around the DOJ for a career.

> After the hearing Friday, Christine Varney, a former Federal
> Trade Commissioner now representing Netscape, was jubilant.
> "I think the judge has understood the seriousness of the
> issue," she said.
> 
    she had every reason to be jubilant --so far. even if
    the judge did not fully understand the technological
    bullshit M$ was trying to slide on by, the judge fully 
    understands that M$ was trying to blind pitch him --and
    insulting him to boot.

    M$' freeway saluting of the judge may have changed the
    destiny of M$ by that very action. Gate$ pulled his
    usual arrogance out of his ass and slapped it on the
    table presuming everybody knew he was the smartest kid
    on the block --and his shit did not stink.

> Microsoft stock closed at $128.69, down $2.19 on NASDAQ,
> where it was among the most active issues.
> 
    yes, down almost 20 points since their fiasco with the  
    DOJ started. before it's over, I hope to see M$ listed
    with the junk bonds and issues --in the penny stocks.

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