Steve Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, May 05, 1998 10:05 PM
Subject: Hatch deflates Microsoft event
>This NEWS.COM (http://www.news.com/) story has been sent to you from
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>
>Hatch deflates Microsoft event
>By Dan Goodin
>May 5, 1998, 10:25 a.m. PT
>http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C21788%2C00.html?sas.mail
>
>Just hours before Bill Gates and executives from a number of Microsoft
partners were to stage a rally promoting the high level of competition they
say exists in the software industry, conservative Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
made a preemptive strike against the event.
>
> On the Senate floor this morning, Hatch questioned whether the
executives--who are expected to urge antitrust regulators not to file suit
against the software giant--were appearing by choice.
>
> Among the executives joining Gates today are Eckhard Pfeiffer, president
and CEO of Compaq Computer; Jim Halpin, president and CEO of CompUSA; Bill
Krause, president and CEO of Storm Technologies; and Ted Johnson, executive
vice president and chief technology officer of Visio. Representatives from a
number of groups that advocate for people with disabilites also will attend.
>
> "It strikes me as curious that it was only after calls from Microsoft
that many of these individuals saw fit to sign letters and make public
appearances," Hatch was quoted as saying in a floor statement. "Indeed, I
have been told that some executives in fact hope to see the Justice
Department pursue further its case against Microsoft, but have chosen to
join Mr. Gates on that stage today because they feel they have little choice
but do so in order not to jeopardize their relationship with the industry's
most powerful and important player."
>
> Microsoft representatives were not immediately available for comment.
>
> As previously reported, the Justice Department and up to 13 states are
investigating Microsoft and are close to deciding whether to file a suit
targeting allegedly anticompetitive business practices.
>
> In addition to top executives from 26 companies--who last week signed a
letter urging regulators not to file a suit that might delay the release of
Windows 98--Microsoft has lined up other support. Most recently, former
Apple Computer chairman John Sculley came out against any potential action,
according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
>
> In an interview in Seattle yesterday, Sculley told the paper that
regulators investigating Microsoft were guilty of "political harassment,"
adding that "what the government is trying to do is completely unjustified."
>
> Utah's Hatch, for his part, counts several of Microsoft's most bitter
rivals as constituents, including Novell, and Caldera, which currently is
pursuing a private antitrust suit against Microsoft. Throughout his four
terms as a U.S. senator, Hatch, who now chairs the powerful Senate Judiciary
Committee, has been an outspoken critic of burdensome governmental
regulation.
>
> Since Hatch publicly took the offensive against Microsoft last November,
a number of conservatives have followed suit. Just yesterday, for example,
Daniel Oliver, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission under former
president Ronald Reagan, published an article in the conservative
publication the National Review that supported antitrust action against
Microsoft.
>
> Other conservatives speaking out against the software giant include the
Progress and Freedom Foundation. In addition, former presidential candidate
and senator Bob Dole and former appeals court judge Robert Bork are being
paid by Microsoft competitors to lobby against the company. (See related
story)
>
> Not all conservatives, however, are taking positions against Microsoft.
Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington, for example, has called remarks Hatch has
made on the Senate floor regarding Microsoft to be "nonsensical."
>
> Today, he issued a statement today criticizing regulation aimed at
Microsoft. "The last thing the high-tech industry needs right now is to be
lectured to by a bunch of bureaucrats in D.C. who don't know a hyperlink
from a hard drive," he said.
>
> Former vice presidential candidate and congressman Jack Kemp also has
been retained by Microsoft to lobby on its behalf.
>
>
>
>
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>
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