People have accused Microsoft of many things over the years: graft, threats, FUD, illegal anticompetitive behavior, and plenty more. But even with all those crimes allegedly staining its soul (or lack thereof), there's never been much reason to accuse the Redmond Giant of that most heinous of character flaws, poor sportsmanship-- until now. Faithful viewer Jerry O'Neil keeps us on top of Microsoft's latest peccadillo by pointing out a MacAddict.com article, which reports that the company has "dissolved its membership in the Software and Information Industry Association." (The SIIA used to be the Software Publishers' Association, the group best known for fighting software piracy.)

And the reason for this sudden departure? Well, those of you who've been tuning in for a while may recall that a couple of months ago, the SIIA reportedly sided against Microsoft as the "Redmond Justice" trial started to wind to its final close. In fact, the SIIA has been vocally supportive of the government's efforts as far back as the time that Judge Jackson issued his infamous Findings of Fact, which established Microsoft to be a monopoly. How about that? The largest software industry lobbying group, of which Microsoft is (was) itself a member, came out squarely on the side of the government, time and time again. The result? "Microsoft has, in effect, taken its ball and gone home," says SIIA president Ken Wasch.

In case you're wondering, that's a heck of a ball to lose; Microsoft paid $100,000 each year in membership fees to the SIIA. But in light of the fact that Wasch calls Microsoft a "schoolyard bully," we can't say we're surprised that Microsoft chose to bail. In fact, we're wondering why on earth it took them this long to leave. We can only assume that Microsoft kept hoping to earn the SIIA's support, but finally concluded that it was a lost cause. So no, we don't blame Microsoft for quitting the SIIA. Taking its ball and going home may make the company a bad sport, but continuing to pay a hundred grand a year to a group actively supporting the government's antitrust suit would have been just plain stupid.