Antitryst Suits
WSJ | at | by Mike
This is what's been going on in antitrust court, as Microsoft uses its legal opportunity to disclose everything but the hotel-room liaison photos. Day nine of this excellent entertainment resumed yesterday. In his opening arguments, Microsoft attorney Dan Webb produced a document sent by AOL to the office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller containing AOL's preferred ways to rein in Microsoft. Many of those same ideas are now being demanded by none other than the same Iowa AG.
None of this is illegal, but it sure does raise the question of whose welfare these antitrust suits are looking out for. On the evidence presented so far, the road to the federal antitrust case looks like it was paved by Microsoft's rivals; they showed up early in Washington, D.C., to lobby, make donations and in general cuddle up to the Justice Department. They had everything but their own Justice parking spaces during the Janet Reno-Orrin Hatch (R., Novell) antitrust years.