As the Apple Turns: Scene 739: Choking on Red Tape (5/26/98)

Choking on Red Tape (5/26/98)

If you're looking for an interesting analysis of just how much the antitrust actions against Microsoft may affect their business, look no further than this article in Inter@ctive Week Online. It draws fascinating comparisons between the current Microsoft investigation and the antitrust investigation of IBM several decades ago. The most dangerous enemy in Microsoft's struggle may not be the Justice Department, but rather the morale problems that ensue when suddenly everything your employees do and say is being closely monitored by the legal department of your own company.

In IBM's case (which dragged on for thirteen years), they had to set up a department which did nothing but work with the lawyers, organizing the millions of documents that were evidence in the case and explaining technical details so that an appropriate legal defense could be built. Lawyers had to monitor what used to be informal meetings to ensure that damaging statements were avoided. More lawyers had to approve the content of memos to verify that it couldn't damage their case. All in all, things got pretty sticky over at IBM-- and the same phenomenon may occur at Microsoft. After all, the DoJ was able to dig up a ton of incriminating evidence in Microsoft memos and email messages, so it seems likely that the lawyers are going to want to be filtering all information exchange from now on to prevent further damage.

It's easy to assume that Microsoft is so big and rich that it can absorb just about any kind of trouble thrown its way, but once lawyers start dictating what gets said at meetings and in memos, there's a nasty layer of complexity thrown on top of what would otherwise be simple proceedings. It's fascinating to think that the only thing that can slow Microsoft's momentum might be the weight of its own lawyers.

SceneLink (739)

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The above scene was taken from the 5/26/98 episode:

May 26, 1998: Bored with the current crop of tech-sector lawsuits? Not to worry-- we've got another one, as another would-be cloner sues Apple for shutting them down. Meanwhile, Microsoft's room to maneuver may be seriously cramped by all the lawyers in the room, and the InfiniteOS resurfaces, source code and all...

Other scenes from that episode:

738: Living In Court (5/26/98) The Clone Wars are over, but the lawsuits linger on. Just to make sure that Microsoft doesn't hog all the fun of litigation, yet another lawsuit has just been shoveled on top of Apple to keep things interesting...
740: Infinitely Intriguing (5/26/98) Hey, who remembers the InfiniteOS flap that arose several months ago? Cache Computing's "alternative operating system" for the Power Macintosh hardware platform caused quite a buzz when news of the project made the rounds a few months ago...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...


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