FC: The Justice Department's antitrust division? Try Viking raiders(fwd)

[Doug Masson <dmasson@iquest.net>]

Just in case some of you folks were wondering what Declan's been up to.
There are a couple of nuggets of truth in here (imho), but they're wrapped
up in half truths and there's some glossing over of inconvenient details.
(Example, in my mind: there's a statement that Dell & IBM will be
offering computers with Linux. This is used as evidence that MS isn't
invincible and that the government never should have proceeded with its
antitrust suit. There is, of course, no discussion about whether Dell &
IBM would have thought about this course of action had MS been left
unmolested. (And, this is admittedly more tangential, but there is also no
discussion of whether IBM & Dell customers who choose Microsoft will have
to continue tithing to Redmond.))

Another example: Declan contends that MS is standing firm and not settling
because MS entered into a consent decree with the government a few years
back and here the government is attacking poor little Microsoft again
(apparently incontravertible evidence of the government's bad faith and
avaricious need to pillage the peaceful hamlet of Microsoft.)

Anyway, this article got on my bad side and I'm generally receptive to
Declan's ideas and my feelings toward MS are less vitriolic than those of
some on this list, so I'm sure you all will enjoy it greatly. :)

---Doug

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 15:48:32 -0500
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu
Subject: FC: The Justice Department's antitrust division? Try Viking raiders

I have an opinion piece on pB5 of Sunday's Newsday that likens the
Department of Justice to 9th-century Viking raiders who are plundering
peaceful and profitable foreign lands. That's why Bill Gates has refused to
settle.

The article:
  http://www.y2kculture.com/mccullagh/newsday.031499.html

-Declan



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