From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 05:33:37 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Bill Gates, the Bully Savior, from The Netly News
Message-ID: <v03007806b072ca42bbed@[168.161.105.141]>
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http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1517,00.html

The Netly News Network (http://netlynews.com/)
October 21, 1997

Bill Gates, the Bully Savior
by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)

     When the Justice Department yesterday accused
Microsoft of using its operating system near-monopoly
to violate the law, the government did more than
attack the world's largest software company. It also
handed Microsoft's chief competitor, Netscape, a major
business -- and political -- victory.

     Netscape has long been urging the Clinton
administration to rein in Bill Gates. For years its
lobbyists have bent the ears of powerful Washington
policymakers. And, unlike many other Silicon Valley
chiefs, Netscape's Jim Barksdale -- a veteran of such
highly regulated companies as Federal Express and
McCaw Cellular -- appears to truly understand how
Washington works. So was Janet Reno motivated by
politics, or law?

     "Fundamentally, I think it's a legal issue," says
Ed Black, president of the Computer and Communications
Industry Association. "But to say whenever the
wealthiest man in America and one of the most powerful
companies in America is challenged by a cabinet
official, you can't say there's no political impact.
You're in a political world at that level."

     When asked to name the most pressing issues
Netscape faces in Washington, company lobbyists rattle
off a long list of topics from encryption to copyright
and education. But antitrust has always topped the
list. This, after all, is the company's primary policy
goal: to stop what it considers to be Microsoft's
predatory practices. "This is not a Netscape-Microsoft
issue," says Netscape's public policy counsel Peter
Harter. "This is not a browser war. This is about
obeying the law."

     Perhaps. But clearly Netscape has been
complaining to the government about Internet Explorer
since the Microsoft browser first hit the Net.
Naturally, the company cheered Janet Reno's suggestion
that Microsoft be punished with a fine of up to $1
million a day. "We're very supportive of the actions
the Department of Justice has taken," Roberta Katz,
Netscape's chief counsel, told the Netly News last
night. "This lawsuit is about preserving competition
as we move to the era of digital commerce."

     It is, of course, also an efficient way for
Netscape to protect its commanding share of the
browser market. "Bill Gates is a successful rival who
makes it difficult for others to do business. Rather
than compete against him head to head in the market,
competitors turn to antitrust laws," says Don
Boudreaux, a professor of law and economics at Clemson
University. "What people at Netscape probably don't
like is the fact that Internet Explorer is a good
product."

     Netscape has slowly been emerging as the grand
marshal in the Everyone But Microsoft parade. Last
year Netscape hired the heavyweight Silicon Valley law
firm of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, whose
partner Gary Reback is a veteran anti-Microsoft
campaigner. In November 1994 Reback prepared -- after
a request from the Department of Justice, which was
investigating Microsoft -- a 100-page white paper on
behalf of three anonymous high tech clients. The
theme: Microsoft's apparent anticompetitive behavior.

[...]


-------------------------
Declan McCullagh
Time Inc.
The Netly News Network
Washington Correspondent
http://netlynews.com/