I think you're way optimistic

Post #29,879 by wharris2 2/26/02 4:28:51 PM Reply	I think you're way optimistic While she may remand the remedies back to the Justice Department for reconsideration, I think they'll just roll over again. I don't think the nine dissenting states will be enough to tilt the balance. Where each demon is slain, more hate is raised, yet hate unchecked also multiplies. - L. E. Modesitt
Post #29,919 by jake123 2/26/02 8:55:13 PM Reply	I don't. Personally, I think she's going to slap them silly. The judiciary is one of the three branches, and has a responsibility to reign in the other two when they don't do their job properly. I think that this is one of those times... and, if I read the signs aright, I think that the judiciary is beginning to think that this is one of those times. The RIAA just got slapped, Enron is there as an object example of what will be coming much more often if the slapping doesn't start (let's face it, while their and their accountant's actions are hardly ethical, moral, nor even necessarily legal, they're depressingly common), and the rot appears to be spreading pretty quickly... while we haven't heard a lot about it, there are some other big bankruptcies going on right now, all with the whiff of crooked accounting attached to them. Here's another factor to consider: K-K ordered them to turn their source over, and there hasn't been a peep from anyone on the subject, least of all MSFT. This would seem to imply that they just handed it over. A lot of the posturing seems to be gone from them. If they've succeeded in convincing her that they're conmen and scam artists (and I can think of a few stunts they've pulled over the last few months that would tend to that interpretation of their characters), she has the power to crush them... esp. if she believes that the DoJ isn't going to do it... and considering some of the tales about the settlement (back room negotiation between the one political guy on the team and MSFT, other DoJ lawyers excluded, and sudden capitulation) she may be coming around to believing just that. You gotta read between the lines with judges, esp. careful ones... and K-K comes across as a careful one. However, if you read judge speak, she's already slapped them around severely a few times... I bet their lawyers are beginning to feel a little bruised, and that some of the top executives are beginning to feel a little scared. Their only problem is... they can't afford to show that fear, which is leading them into further problems. I mean, how do you think K-K is going to take the news that MSFT is using the settlement as a way of pushing their way into their customer's IP? Do you think that she's going to believe that they've figured out that they need to behave like a good monopoly now? -- ---------------------------------------------------------- * Jack Troughton jake at jakesplace.dhs.org * * [link\|http://jakesplace.dhs.org\|[link\|http://jakesplace.dhs.org\|http://jakesplace.dhs.org]] [link\|ftp://jakesplace.dhs.org\|[link\|ftp://jakesplace.dhs.org\|ftp://jakesplace.dhs.org]] * * Montr\ufffdal PQ Canada [link\|news://jakesplace.dhs.org\|news://jakesplace.dhs.org] * ----------------------------------------------------------
Post #29,939 by wharris2 2/27/02 3:44:39 AM Reply	Gates, Ballmer scared? By their actions, you shall know them. They aren't scared at all, they're still going full-tilt. Even using the terms of the proposed settlement to put the squeeze on OEM's (what a surprise). Not the actions of a company in fear of anything. Where each demon is slain, more hate is raised, yet hate unchecked also multiplies. - L. E. Modesitt
Post #29,960 by jake123 2/27/02 10:40:12 AM Reply	Yeah... you're right. Those two are too dumb to be scared. In all seriousness... I think that those actions are going to turn out to be the last gasps of a dying yet still powerful entity. Have you heard about the new lawsuit? I read that they're being sued by a large group of their customer base... HP, Compaq, et. al. The only big player not in on it is Dell (gee, I wonder why). Sony is coming after them too... I suspect that MSFT may find that Sony is something beyond their bullying power... Sony has other resources; they're not a one-trick pony with a sole supplier problem like the big US OEMs. Nope... the vultures are circling, because they are all intelligent enough to see the signs. They're just waiting for K-K to deliver the coup-de-grace before moving in to tear at the carcass... -- ---------------------------------------------------------- * Jack Troughton jake at jakesplace.dhs.org * * [link\|http://jakesplace.dhs.org\|[link\|http://jakesplace.dhs.org\|http://jakesplace.dhs.org]] [link\|ftp://jakesplace.dhs.org\|[link\|ftp://jakesplace.dhs.org\|ftp://jakesplace.dhs.org]] * * Montr\ufffdal PQ Canada [link\|news://jakesplace.dhs.org\|news://jakesplace.dhs.org] * ----------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to IWETHEY!