Microsoft "Advertorial" Appears In Major Papers

[Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>]

Microsoft has published an "advertorial" in several major newspapers
reiterating its arguments in the DoJ case. The purpose, according to a
Microsoft press release, is to "refocus the current debate over competition
onto the central principle that the company is standing up for - the
ability of every American company to continually innovate by integrating
new technologies and ideas into its products."

In the ad, the company seeks to persuade the public to ignore its business
practices -- however illegal or predatory -- and take the Pollyanna-ish
view that because Microsoft is associated with "gee whiz" technology,
anything it does must necessarily be good. The company also attempts to
mislead and frighten the public into believing that constraints on
predatory pricing and monopolistic business practices somehow amount to an
attempt to "stop innovation" or regulate the advancement of technology. 

The advertorial is the first of a series which will be run regularly in
major newspapers in key markets. Thus, a more subtle agenda may be to
inject advertising income into these large papers in the hope that it will
influence coverage.

The full text of the article is included in Microsoft's press release at 


http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/press/1998/Apr98/AdvertPr.htm

--Brett Glass