MS is both the force behind the merger of the AOhell and Netscrape and
also the one forcing it to not happen. One office mate ventured that the
whole thing was a ploy by MicroBorg to derail the trial, or as Im calling
it THiS IS YOUR LIFE bill gates (""Do you remeber this voice?" "When i was
six Billy shut down my lemonaide stand saying that unless I used his
supplies he would have the town bully beat me up." "Thats right Bill, its
your first grade school sweetheart little Cindy Loo Hoo. Come on out and
meet her now that shes all grown up" Camera pans out as Cindy Loo Hoo
steps out in full paramilitary gear toting an Uzi in one hand and a
writ of legal injunction in the other. Cut to commerical)
So far it has all been mostly yak yak over coffe and code, but then my eye
spoted this item in the stream of insta news emails.
*** AOL, Netscape talks dominate Microsoft trial
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Both Microsoft and the government seized on
Monday's announcement of merger talks between America Online and
Microsoft rival Netscape as evidence to back their cases in
Microsoft's antitrust trial. Economist Frederick Warren-Boulton
testified for the government that Microsoft's exclusive contracts
with computer makers, Internet providers and others were
anti-competitive and may have helped prompt the potential merger. The
federal government and 20 states have charged that Microsoft Corp.
illegally maintained a monopoly in operating systems and used it to
compete unfairly against Netscape in the Internet browser market. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2557263802-b