[Am-info] Chicago Tribune: Ballmer: Proposal would 'debilitate' Microsoft

[Eric Bennett]

Roy Bixler wrote:
> 
> Ballmer gives his usual hyperbolic viewpoints here, claiming that
> "Jackson was overturned" and that the DOJ-brokered settlement terms
> went beyond what the Appeals Court ruled.  Do any of the more legal
> types on this list have comments on this?

One thing for sure, don't take legal advice from Steve Ballmer.  He's
quoted as saying that there's nothing "punitive" in antitrust law, when the
Sherman Act includes jail time as a possible penalty (rarely used, but some
ADM executives were sent to jail over price fixing a few years ago).  I
guess going to jail isn't punitive in Ballmer's mind.

An article I read yesterday quoted Ballmer as saying that the appeals court
did not rule against Microsoft on code tying, which is true, but they also
did not rule *for* Microsoft on code tying... they left that issue up to a
lower court to decide after further investigation.  The DOJ did not want to
bother revisiting the issue, but if the states do, the appeals court ruling
certainly seems to say that it's fair game.

-- 
Eric Bennett ( ericb@pobox.com ; http://www.pobox.com/~ericb )

Life in prison has actually been better than life at ADM.
-Terrance Wilson, ADM exec sentenced to jail for price fixing