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Deflector Shields Up (9/10/98)
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Oh, this is rich... "Redmond Justice" is heating up again, as Microsoft fashions its latest defense strategy in the face of the impending trial. Apparently the tactic du jour is to show-- get this-- that other companies have banded together to engage in anticompetitive practices against them. This strategy is reportedly known in legal circles as the "But They Did It First" maneuver, or, alternatively, "The Big Hand Wave." The Washington Post has the whole story.
Whether or not Microsoft actually expects anyone to believe that Oracle, IBM, Sun, Apple, etc. really colluded to prevent Microsoft from competing fairly is open for debate. More than likely, it's all a ploy by Microsoft to have their trial date postponed again. After all, Microsoft has previously stated that they'd like an additional six months to prepare for the trial; what better way to force a delay than by subpoenaing literally thousands of documents from the seven "anticompetitive" companies last Friday (and only giving a week's time in which to pull all the data together)?
So the big orange sign on the road to the trial currently says "EXPECT DELAYS." And once this whole subpoena issue is cleared up, don't be surprised if Microsoft stalls for more time claiming to have a broken shoelace or something like that. Microsoft isn't stupid; technology moves so fast, the best legal move often seems to be to stall until the technology in question is irrelevant.
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SceneLink (1003)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 9/10/98 episode: September 10, 1998: Sure, maybe you missed your chance to buy Apple stock at $13 a share, but Larry Ellison's got more to cry about. Meanwhile, Microsoft tries to deflect attention from its anticompetitive practices by pointing the finger at other companies, including Apple, even while Digital Equipment Corporation execs tell how Bill Gates himself forced the death of a cool NC-based product...
Other scenes from that episode: 1002: Coulda Shoulda Woulda (9/10/98) Still kicking yourself because you didn't buy Apple stock at $13 a share last year? After all, even after the market turbulence lately, it's still up over $36 now-- an investment of $1000 would have raised more than enough money for an iMac and some peripherals... 1004: The Sound of Squelching (9/10/98) And in further Microsoft news, Digital Equipment Corporation is the latest to get in line to say that the Redmond Giant squelched a potentially competing product. Five DEC execs are claiming that Bill Gates personally strongarmed their company into cancelling a promising Internet product, by threatening to cancel Microsoft's development of Windows NT for DEC's processors...
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