Microsoft, Google and Bad Behavior
Google has hopped on the Microsoft anti-trust bandwagon. While near the same time Google is being accused of malpractice when it comes to privacy issues. And as Google just hired someone from the Justice Dept to be their lobbyist in regard to defending its planned purchase of DoubleClick. AT&T and Microsoft are not thrilled with the possibilities of Google buying the internet ad monster.
Sounds like a bunch of spoiled brats fighting over what all of us should oppose. Everyone should be aware of Microsoft’s predatory practices but Google is no saint. After all this time AT&T has overcome the baby bell breakup blues and everything is nearly back to the start. Except we’re all paying too much for second rate services.
Based on these and other reports it may be the fed is cozying up to MS after all the litigation and anti-trust messes of the not too distant past. Could it be the government is enamored again with Bill Gates after his testimony to Congress that visa quotas should be unlimited. Yes, he did that this summer and we’re in an amnesty fiasco now.
With many other reasons to oppose MS, that fact alone would be sufficient. But then it is not like Google, AT&T or many other big deal corporations are concerned about being good corporate citizens or adhering to adequate corporate governance.
Let the behemoth battles begin. (or continue)
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
Google Reportedly Says Microsoft Windows Vista Puts Rivals At Disadvantage - Update [GOOG]
http://www.rttnews.com/sp/breakingnews.asp?date=06/10/2007&item=12&vid=0
6/10/2007 11:24:25 PM Sunday, reports indicated Google Inc. (GOOG) complained to antitrust officials that Windows vista operating system software of Microsoft Corp (MSFT) puts rivals at a disadvantage in violation of Microsoft’s antitrust settlement. In a white paper sent to the Justice department and state attorney generals in April, Google said that the Windows operating system hinders consumers from using desktop applications provided by Google and others.
The US Justice Department’s Change Of Heart Over Microsoft
Posted on Sunday, June 10, 2007
LAWFUEL - The Law Newswire - After a decade, the US Government has moved from attacking Microsoft to defending it - a sign that the antitrust fight has moved from the desktop to the Internet. The New York Times reports.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.
Google hires former Department of Justice official
By Jonathan Thaw
Bloomberg News
Published June 1, 2007, 3:28 PM CDTGoogle Inc., owner of the world’s most-popular Internet search engine, hired a former U.S. Department of Justice official to advise the company on its $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick Inc.
Makan Delrahim served as deputy assistant attorney general for the department’s antitrust unit. The DoubleClick purchase won’t stifle competition in the online advertising industry, he said in an interview today.