I think that both the feds and the state AG's have recently become more worthy of respect

[Hans Reiser <reiser@ricochet.net>]

  I think you are being much too hard on Sam Goodhope without knowing much about him.  I admit I don't know him well either, but I spoke
  to him for a few minutes at the conference, and yes, he is a politician who pays more attention to reporters than random other persons,
  but this is normal for all of us, and I am inclined to the belief he tries to do good work for the State of Texas and the average joe
  citizen.
  
  You must understand that this computer software stuff is really intimidating to your ordinary lawyer, more so than a programmer might
  credit, and when Microsoft does its ''We are the masters of the arcane, and if you disturb our pentagrams horrible things may happen.''
  routine, normal lawyers become reluctant to act.  That is why going something like interface tying is not approachable for them, and
  why they don't understand that in our industry, killing Microsoft dead would not hurt the industry, it would just result in upgrading
  from Win95 to Solaris/Rhapsody/OS2/Linux being more work than upgrading from Windows 95 to NT.  Forcing us to all use better operating
  systems is not all that terrible.  But you can't expect them to understand that.
  
  What I find hopeful is that the press is putting their egos on the line, and they are starting to realize that if they lose cases to
  Microsoft, they are going to be remembered at cocktail parties as the fellow who didn't really have what it took.  So if the feds lose
  this fight on the consent decree, they'll have to fight on, and win, or face all those kind pitying looks the rest of their lives.
  They know there is no anti-trust case in this generation of antitrust that can make up for the shame of losing this one.  And ego is
  responsible for 90% of everything great ever accomplished by men.
  
  Finally, I think that some of their discovery work is starting to generate some interesting fruit.  Let's give them some credit (but
  maintain the pressure.)  They are reforming.
  
  Let us thank James Love, Ralph Nader, and the members of the press, for doing so much to change this situation.
  
  Hans
  
  > Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 23:20:50 -0600
  > From: John Robert BEHRMAN <jbehrman@netropolis.net>
  > To: jnelson@bga.com
  > Subject: Re: Texas AG retiring
  > Message-ID: <34863DB2.5A43F5DD@netropolis.net>
  >
  > This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
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  >
  > Save your breath, John.
  >
  > Last week Gen. MORALES did his "here is my poll, so how much
  > will you ante up" bit. Being an old Democratic wheel-horse,
  > I got his pathetic letter. He came up dry. My low opinion of
  > him is pretty widespread in Texas..
  >
  > The pitiful Microsoft gesture was no more than one Assistant
  > AG's lateral pass, not a Hail Mary forward pass. A serious
  > Texas AG could single-handedly break Microsoft using fine,
  > old  Texas laws. The silly nuisance suit is just John
  > GOODHOPE's bid at getting some out-of-state travel funded in
  > order to look for another job. My guess is that he will end
  > up working for the Telephone Monopoly.
  >
  > For anti-trust laws to work there has to be political
  > strategy, discipline, and action behind them. Do not look to
  > Vichy Democrats like MORALES for that. They are leaving
  > Austin and surrendering even before the Republicans have
  > opened fire.
  >
  > John N. Bryan wrote:
  >
  > <snip>
  >
  > > The news yesterday was that Texas AG Dan Morales
  > > announced that he will not seek re-election in
  > > '98, citing "time with the family" as the reason.
  > >
  > > I wondered how this will impact Texas' ongoing
  > > investigations into Microsoft's business practices
  > > in Texas.
  > >
  > > Sorry to see him go.
  > >
  > > -John B
  >
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  > ------------------------------
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