Re: Company, government eyeing deal?

[Christopher Pall <christopher.pall@wmich.edu>]

What surprises me is that for a company which seems to realize that perception
is 90% reality, they have failed to up to this point realize that the public
perception has radically oppositional views towards Microsoft. Like I said in
the other post, I think some executives with less invested in Microsoft winning
the court case are hoping to make out in the settlement.

Mitch Stone wrote:
> 
> --- 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
>