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Microsoft Critic Received $9.75m After Settlement
An anonymous reader writes "Just this month, Microsoft paid almost $20 million to the Computer and Communications Industry Association to make an anti-trust lawsuit go away.
FT.com has just revealed that *half* of that payment was pocketed by Ed Black, the president of CCIA and one of MS's fiercest opponents over antitrust issues. His payment was approved by the CCIA board, which includes Sun Microsystems, Yahoo and Oracle. And here's a quote from this article at Groklaw: Could this be why Nokia quit the CCIA right after the settlement was announced, saying matters were not handled "in the proper way"?"
Man, talk about a bargain. A lawsuit that could potentially bring Microsoft as we know it (one monolithic overreaching organisation) to an end and all it takes to make it go away is $20 million?
I bet the Microsoft people were popping champagne corks over that one. They would have thought nothing of spending $20 million defending themselves in court, so spending that much to make sure it never got that far was probably the easiest decision in the world.
As to where that $20 million went, well, that's another story. If half did go to Ed Black then it seems to me that he's got a lot of explaining to do.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Just goes to show, they're all the same, it's a matter of picking out your piece of territory and seeing who can make the most noise. The more I see of capitalism, the more I'm glad that I'm content to work from home earning "enough to get by".
To be fair, they had to give Novell ~$500M to buy their silence, as I recall.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
what a joke - their buying all these people in the industry -
they are nothing but mafia that the government refuses to do anything about because they are getting paid off too.
I hope all these people can sleep at night.
Worse with each payment the price goes up. If you got a complaint against MS you are hardly going to settle for a handshake are you? They paid in the past so you want your share.
There is a reason IBM didn't just settle with SCO. If they did every lawyer in the world would have send them a complaint.
Sure MS is buying itself temporary peace but this is resulting in two long term effects.
First anybody else who has the slightest case will want their millions.
But second is a far more damaging effect. If you read the FT story it is very clear that the journalist is calling this a clear case of bribery. Now why would you bribe a witness unless the witness has really seen something? I give it a couple more years before most of the real press will have decided that yes MS is a clearly corrupt company. This will cast suspicion on all their dealings.
Surely any good journalist will then start to question every time MS gets a contract or makes a lawsuit go away who has been paid off for how much?
If I were a reporter at the FT looking for a story I would do some investigation into who received what sums of money for the recent NHS deal or the US army deal. The last one is especially good. The US army has said that windows wasn't good enough for their future soldier project but it is good enough for the desktop of soldiers? Wheres the money!
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
That's not too hard. Problem is that the schools that offer such a degree can only be afforded by children of the very wealthy.
Cases which use our justice system, using up taxes, should not merely be settled without a fee. If they're not going to produce a precedent, they should compensate the government at least a fraction of their costs as part of the settlement price. There's no reason why taxpayers like me should be subsidizing their competition without getting a piece of the action.
--
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the bbc is reporting that "A new round has opened in the European Commission anti-trust battle against Microsoft as the judge hearing its appeal called for a closed meeting. The meeting - to be held on Thursday - follows US-based Novell and the Computer and Communications Industry Association dropping out of the case. "
Wonder if this means the EU Anti-trust case will fail apart, or, like the US slowly fade into nothing
Jaj
Makes you wonder about the people behind the anti-trust lawsuits when you find out that the cause they're so firmly behind can be bought out so easily. Also makes you wonder if it's as big a deal as these people are potentially inflating it to be in some cases.
Of course, 9.5 million is enough to make anybody think twice.
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Wait a second. According to the Press Release, "As part of this agreement, Microsoft will join the membership of CCIA".
This is extremely strange, especially seeing that CCIA are a member of te Open Source Development Labs.
So, though indirectly, Microsoft are now members of the Open Source Development Labs ! Could everyone repeat after me, wtf?
I'd love to know if this constitutes interfering with an ongoing case and how european law deals with such things. I'm not sure the DOJ would be so thrilled about it either -- interfering with a trade-partner's legal procedings that is.
I doubt they'd care if MS paid of some chinese diplomat to be quiet, but the EU is a fairly big partner these days.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
Surprisingly, Ed Black had no interest in Microsoft's burying, and even grabbing control, of one of their few remaining high-profile competitors.
Or perhaps it wasn't surprising at all. It sometimes feels that almost everyone involved with US corporate world is somehow corrupt and only looking to stuff their own bank accounts.
But at least Ed Black can now sleep well on his greenback-stuffed mattress.
Back to sleep America, normal service has resumed and the corporate watchmen are back on the corporate bankroll...
The annoying but harmless Quis custodiet ipsos custodes issue has been taken care of.