From: Brad <bdolan@USIT.NET>
Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 01:08:12 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Which side are you on, brother?
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Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.96.980103114644.17283F-100000@use.usit.net>
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Watching the DOJ/MS fight is sort of like watching Iraq and Iran fight.
Or Iraq and Kuwait.  I have a hard time working up much enthusiasm for
either side.  

What finally knocked me onto {gasp, choke} Gates' side, was the following:

WSJ, p. A16, 12/23/97

 Dole Backing Effort to Slow Microsoft Plan

 Washington - Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole has been sending
 letters and calling companies seeking their support in an expanding
 campaign to curb Microsoft Corp.'s entrance into new Internet businesses.

 Mr. Dole is part of a nascent but growing lobbying effort that goes far
 beyond issues raised by the Justice Department's antitrust case against
 Microsoft. ...

 Mr. Dole is representing several companies, including Microsoft computer
 rivals Netscape Communications Corp., and Sun Microsystems Corp., and
 Sabre Group Holdings Inc., a Dallas-based airlines reservation system
 that faces competition from Microsoft. ...

 In a recent letter to one company that has been approached for support,
 Mr. Dole wrote:  "In the coming months, we will need to educate the
 public, the administration, and Congress about the dangers of a
 laissez-faire attitude toward Microsoft.  I am personally convinced that
 if nothing is done now, it will become increasingly difficult to have
 fair competition in the years ahead.  That is why we will need companies
 like yours to help finance and support our efforts.

 Mr. Dole, who was travelling in Bosnia yesterday with President Clinton,
 couldn't be reached for comment. ...


Whenever both heads of the DemoPublican hydra agree, they're circling the
wagons to protect their "vital interests" against the barbarians.  I'm
rooting for the barbarians, no matter how stinky they are.

Brad