******** Dueling briefs, pro- and anti-Microsoft: http://www.actonline.org/pubs/ProComp%20Response.pdf http://www.procompetition.org/headlines/WhitePaper5_15.pdf Photos from appeals court oral arguments: http://www.mccullagh.org/theme/microsoft-antitrust-appeal.html ******** http://www.wired.com/news/antitrust/0,1551,44170,00.html MS Launches Counter PR Attack By Declan McCullagh (declanat_private) 2:00 a.m. May 31, 2001 PDT WASHINGTON -- When the Clinton administration accused Microsoft of myriad antitrust wrongdoings in a 1997 lawsuit, the company appeared to have been taken by surprise. Top Microsoft executives confessed at the time that they underestimated competitors' abilities to convince Justice Department lawyers to start a legal struggle that culminated in a breakup order, and an appeal that's still under way. Four years later, Microsoft's enemies are wagging fingers once again, pointing at the company's ambitious plans for .NET, the launch of Office XP on Thursday, and the scheduled introduction of Windows XP on Oct. 25 as additional examples of Microsoft's attempts to maintain its operating system monopoly. This time, however, Microsoft and its allies don't view the threats as idle ones. Since the 1997 antitrust case began, Microsoft has dramatically expanded its Washington presence, moving its lobbying office downtown and hiring dozens more lobbyists and lawyers. On Wednesday, two groups and one attorney who receive money from Microsoft -- the Association for Competitive Technology, the Computing Technology Industry Association, and conservative superlawyer C. Boyden Gray -- organized a conference call to deny allegations of Microsoft wrongdoing. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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