SITE METER *
says you are
TV Viewer
number
Set-Top Page Microsoft-WebTV Government News |  |
News Wires | More News | PR Wire Net Stats | Ticker | Calendar | Search |
- RUEL'S SOAPBOX RESPONSE to U.S. Dept. of Justice consideration of Microsoft Breakup (30JUL99) (Ruel.Net)
RUEL'S SOAPBOX: According to news reports, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) (or "DJ" as used by federal government employees) sought advice on how to break up Microsoft causing speculation about the outcome of the antitrust case filed by the DOJ against Microsoft. The Justice Dept. asked two leading investment banking firms on how best to break up Microsoft, but the two firms declined the request.
The DOJ folks specifically sought out those two particular firms. If those two firms declined the DOJ request, the DOJ folks who are perhaps blinded by their mission to defeat Microsoft at trial should realize that breaking up Microsoft would be bad for the U.S. economy. I know there are DOJ folks and other U.S. Federal government employees who visit this set of webpages for news about Microsoft. (Click Here for the Interactive TV and Set-Top News.) To those DOJ folks: Please do not be idiots and do not even think about breaking up Microsoft. Yes, penalize Microsoft for any wrongdoing in the computer software industry, but don't even consider breaking up Microsoft.
Others may disagree, but, in my humble opinion, I think there could be bad collateral damage and a setback to the developing interactive television and set-top industry if there is a Microsoft breakup.
Don't get me wrong: Yes, I like Microsoft-WebTV, but you should also know that I pretty much like all of the other set-tops and the other interactive TV solutions also. And if you have been following these webpages, then you know as well as I do that: (1) the computer industry is in transition to a new diverse media information appliance marketplace that includes not only computers but also set-top boxes, interactive television boxes, and other information devices; (2) this new marketplace requires a strong complete player like a Microsoft (as distasteful as that may sound to some people) to help push the marketplace along; and (3) although Microsoft may continue to throw its weight around, there will be other players in the new information appliance marketplace to keep Microsoft from totally dominating the field. -ruel - U.S. DOJ thinking about breaking up Microsoft (29JUL99) (WIRED)
- U.S. DOJ wants to break up Microsoft (29JUL99) (USA Today)
USA Today reports, "Bankers at the two firms, who requested anonymity, said Justice officials wanted an assessment of where the logical breakup points of Microsoft were and a valuation of what the market reaction would be. Both firms declined, worried about the impact of siding with a Justice Department that they say is viewed in the business community as interventionist."
USA Today quotes Kaye Scholer partner and antitrust lawyer Richard Steuer as stating, "If the government were to seek breakup as a remedy, it would face the argument that whatever may make sense as a matter of economic theory would not make sense as a business reality."
RUEL'S SOAPBOX MINI-PART II: I used to work in the U.S. federal government. After being on the outside as a "recovering former-Treasury employee" for a few years, I'm of the opinion that there are perhaps one-too-many people (but not all people) in the government bureacracy who are perhaps closed-minded and cannot understand what is really happening in the business world. -ruel
- We Don't Need the U.S. Dept. of Justice to "Save Us" from Microsoft (28OCT97) (Seattle Times)
- ZDNet AnchorDesk's Report on Why the Government is After Microsoft (ZDNET) (20AUG97)
- Anti-MS "Group" petitions Justice Dept. to deny MS buyout of WebTV (from CNET Radio)
- WebTV President Steve Perlman on MS-WebTV Deal (Club WebTV)
- U.S. Justice Dept. allows Microsoft to buy WebTV (4AUG97) (Reuters)
- Microsoft-WebTV Deal Completed (1AUG97) (CMP)
- DOJ Okays WebTV Buy-Out: MS-WebTV Deal Cleared! (1AUG97) (CNET)
- U.S. DOJ won't block Microsoft WebTV deal (Mercury's Closing Bell Internet Daily) (1AUG97)
"Federal antitrust regulators reportedly won't block Microsoft's deal to acquire WebTV. The Justice Department decision, reported by Reuters, comes a day after Philip Monego of NetChannel, a WebTV rival, charged that the deal threatened to control the business of Internet-connected televisions. WebTV has developed a set-top TV box for Web access, a technology NetChannel also is developing. 'If successful, Microsoft and its chairman will have built the foundation for a choke hold over the entertainment, electronic commerce and communication industries similar to its current position in the personal-computer industry,' the Seattle Times quoted Monego's formal complaint as saying."
- CLICK HERE FOR MORE SET-TOP NEWS
OLD MICROSOFT-WEBTV
GOVERNMENT-RELATED NEWS:
|
 
|
|
Thank You
For Visiting
Ruel.Net
RUEL.NET TV PAGE | SET-TOP | PC-TV
TV-VIA-NET | PC-TV TUNER CARDS
THE LIST | LINKS | RESEARCH | BOOKS
INTERACTIVE TV DEVELOPERS
CONFERENCES | NEWSLETTER
INTERACTIVE TV TOP.BOX.NEWS