Re: Company, government eyeing deal?

[Mitch Stone <mstone@vc.net>]

--- From a message sent by Steve Cohen on 3/9/1999 9:07 PM ---

>Interesting, isn't it.  This may be the most momentous event since the 
>trial began
>- Microsoft blinks for the first time.  And what have we, the "Appraising
>Microsoft" list been discussing today, for the most part?
>
>Thank you, Mitch and Chris, for trying to bring us back to topic.
>
>My guess is that no settlement will come soon, but that the two sides are 
>feeling
>each other out to see where a settlement is feasible.  What is discussed 
>today may
>become part of the basis for settlement later.  Regardless of what comes 
>of it, I
>think it's good that Microsoft is finally realizing it's going to have to do
>something different than what it's been up to so far.

The history of this company suggests that whenever they find the need to 
do something different, they instead do the same thing in a slightly 
different way. They manage perceptions. When they were first accused of 
using inside knowledge of OS development to give themselves an advantage 
in applications, they created the "Chinese wall" fiction. That worked for 
quite a while. When they agreed to stop using the cpu tax, they found 
other equally effective methods of producing the same result. It goes 
without saying that the company will try to find a settlement that harms 
them the least, but keep in mind that the perceptions they need to manage 
are those of the public, and perhaps Congress, not the DoJ.

   Mitch Stone
   Editor, Boycott Microsoft
   http://www.vcnet.com/bms 
 +---
   Make money and the whole world will conspire 
   to call you a gentleman. --- George Bernard Shaw