____/ Ramon F Herrera on Saturday 29 September 2007 20:55 : \____
>
> "The U.S. Justice Department's top antitrust official called the
> remedy in Microsoft's U.S. antitrust case "well-crafted" and
> "successful," and urged U.S. and European Union officials on Friday to
> be cautious in fighting abusive monopoly behavior".
> [...]
>
>
http://www.news.com/U.S.-defends-Microsoft-remedy-at-international-meet/2100-1028_3-6210847.html
>
> Let me see if I understand this. The position of the current US
> administration is: "Yes, Microsoft is a convicted monopolist, and not
> even they have ever denied that fact. However, only us (the U.S. of
> A.) is qualified and capable of determining what the precise level of
> punishment should be".
>
> This is exactly like the parents of a misbehaved teenager. One of the
> parents tells the spouse: "You can determine whether the kid should be
> punished or not, but only I am entitled to decide on the punishment,
> whether s/he should be grounded, etc, as God told me that you can
> never have such ability".
Microsoft pays the US government for protection. It now receives it.
Microsoft Finds Legal Defender in Justice Dept.
,----[ Quote ]
| Nearly a decade after the government began its landmark effort to break
| up Microsoft, the Bush administration has sharply changed course by
| repeatedly defending the company both in the United States and abroad
| against accusations of anticompetitive conduct, including the recent
| rejection of a complaint by Google.
|
| [...]
|
| In the most striking recent example of the policy shift, the top
| antitrust official at the Justice Department last month urged state
| prosecutors to reject a confidential antitrust complaint filed by
| Google that is tied to a consent decree that monitors Microsoft's
| behavior. Google has accused Microsoft of designing its latest
| operating system, Vista, to discourage the use of Google's desktop
| search program, lawyers involved in the case said.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/business/10microsoft.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
US politicians go to bat for Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/
Report Says Nonprofits Sold Influence to Abramoff
,----[ Quote ]
| E-mails released by the committee show that Abramoff, often
| with the knowledge of the groups' leaders, exploited the tax-exempt
| status and leveraged the stature of the organizations to build
| support among conservatives for legislation or government action
| sought by clients including Microsoft Corp., mutual fund company
| DH2 Inc., Primedia Inc.'s Channel One Network, and Brown-Forman,
| maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey.
`----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200889.html
http://tinyurl.com/y2rbpu
Politicians in Microsoft's Pocket
,----[ Quote ]
| Continuing on the theme of which politicians are receiving money from
| who. Here is a list of candidates who took money from MSFT.
`----
http://www.fonz.net/blog/archives/2007/06/04/politicians-in-microsofts-pocket/
Politics and tech companies: follow the money
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft took first place with $651,100 given out, while
| Hewlett-Packard gave only $185,550, and Gateway gave a paltry
| $2,000. Microsoft's donations certainly illustrate well the true
| size of the company and the extent of its political concerns.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061110-8194.html
Microsoft Paid Lobbyist $160,000
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Paid Paid Bingham McCutchen $160,000 to Lobby Federal Gov't in
| First Half of 2007
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070905/microsoft_lobbying.html?.v=1
Microsoft in row over lobby tactics
,----[ Quote ]
| The Observer has seen an email sent by a director at leading lobby firm
| Burson-Marsteller to a number of top UK businesses. The email urges board
| members to raise the issue of Google's dominance of search engines with
| politicians, regulators and the media.
`----
http://money.guardian.co.uk/news_/story/0,,2174794,00.html
Microsoft is as corrupt as the political system here. It takes two to tango,
but the Microsoft Money Machine is a big part of it and it deserves to take
the blame.
--
~~ Best of wishes
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