U.S. V. Microsoft: The Inside Story of the Landmark Case

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Description

An account of the landmark antitrust case chronicles the investigation of Microsoft, examines the key events and personalities of the trial, and discusses the affect of the verdict.
It had all the elements of a Perry Mason television drama: big, powerful protagonists; shady witnesses; carefully argued points of law; leading players we loved to hate; rabbit-out-of-the-hat revelations; an irascible judge. And for much of the late 1990s, it held our attention (if not all the time our comprehension) like a flickering computer monitor. U.S. v. Microsoft, the nation’s biggest antitrust trial since the breakup of Ma Bell almost 20 years earlier, played itself out before us in many fascinating ways. Whether you were a techno-geek who spent his off-hours tinkering with the Windows registry for relaxation, a state attorney-general concerned about the near-total dominance of the Windows operating system for the world’s PCs, a student of the human character, a corporate PR counsel, a manager at a dot-com, or just someone who wondered why her PC perceived to crash more times than a Ford Pinto, there was something when it comes to U.S. v. Microsoft for you.

Now, two journalists have produced an eyewitness account of this landmark trial. Joel Brinkley and Steve Lohr covered the story for The New York Times from the beginning. For the reason that, this book is likely to become the definitive work on the case for the general reader. Brinkley and Lohr pull together a comprehensive chronology of the events that led up to the trial and the judge’s proposed treatment: the breakup of the world’s largest, richest, and most powerful software company. They frame their reportage (much of which is reproduced from their Times news stories) with fresh observation and analysis of key events and biographical portraits of the players on both sides. It’s all here: the damning internal e-mail messages, the botched technical demonstrations used to counter the government’s proposed remedies, Microsoft’s competitors twisting the knife on the witness stand, the infamous videotape presentation before the court by Bill Gates, Judge Jackson’s incredulity at probably the most testimony.

And whilst the final verdict may yet be years away, the case of U.S. v. Microsoft will provide many salutary lessons for both governments and large companies–many of which in the high-tech world are growing bigger on a daily basis. –Alan J. White

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