Txpayers bear burden of continuing antitrust suit
Tech Tribune | at | by Mike
After years battling over a now-pointless lawsuit, the Department of Justice, sixteen out of eighteen states and the Microsoft Corporation settled the antitrust case with Microsoft agreeing to pay fines and alter certain business practices. Two states, Massachusetts and West Virginia, complain that the settlement is unsatisfactory and will fight another costly legal battle against Microsoft.
Massachusetts and West Virginia's opposition to the settlement will be an additional strain on both states' already deficit-laden budgets. Currently, both states' budget deficits total over $2 billion USD and are projected to reach close to $3 billion USD by 2004. In a prepared statement regarding his state's continued attack on Microsoft, West Virginia's Democrat AG Darrell McGraw, Jr. brushed aside taxpayer concerns about his state's budget deficit.