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The Courts Government Microsoft The Almighty Buck News

Microsoft Critic Received $9.75m After Settlement 267

Posted by timothy from the why-that's-coincidental dept.
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"?"
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Microsoft Critic Received $9.75m After Settlement More

Microsoft Critic Received $9.75m After Settlement

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  • is it just me? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:51AM (#10908119)
    Or is anyone else coming to the conclusion that any organisation named *IA or *AA is, in fact, corrupt and evil?

  • Everyone has his price (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tomahawk ( 1343 ) * on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:51AM (#10908120) Homepage
    I guess this just goes to show that everyone has his price.

    Granted, $9.75m is a nice price to have... don't think I'd be too quick to say no myself.

    T.

    • Re:Everyone has his price (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:02AM (#10908173)
      Your comment reminds me of a joke. A man walks up to a beautiful young woman and says, "will you sleep with me for a million dollars."

      She says, "sure."

      Next, he says, "will you sleep with me for a dollar?"

      She slaps him in the face and says, "what kind of woman do you think I am?"

      He replies, "We have already established that, we are just dickering over price!"

      • Re:Everyone has his price (Score:4, Informative)

        by GreenKiwi ( 221281 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:55AM (#10908433)
        My understanding was that it wasn't just "a man", but George Bernard Shaw.

        • 'twas Churchill, not Shaw (Score:5, Funny)

          by rcs1000 ( 462363 ) * <rcs1000@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @09:23AM (#10908659)
          And the woman in question was Lady Astor.

          They had two other famous exchanges (and strangely always seemed to find themselves next to each other at dinner):

          Winston Churchill: Madam, you are ugly.
          Lady Astor: And you, Winston, are drunk.
          Winston Churchill: Ah yes, but in the morning I shall be sober.

          &

          Lady Astor: If you were my husband Winston, I should poison your soup.
          Winston Churchill: And if you were my wife, I'd drink it.
          • "and strangely always seemed to find themselves next to each other at dinner"

            Are you kidding? If I knew that exchanges like that were likely, I'd not only regularly invite both to gatherings but INSIST that they sit near each other.

      • Re:Everyone has his price (Score:5, Funny)

        by oneself ( 104209 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @11:00AM (#10909443) Homepage
        And here's another:

        A boy comes home from school, and tells his dad: "Today we learned the
        difference between 'theoretically' and 'practically', but I'm not sure
        I got it. Could you explain it to me?" The father thinks for a
        minute and then replies "Son, your mom is in the other room, go and
        ask her if she would be willing to have sex with a stranger for a
        million dollars." The boy returns after a short minute and says: "She
        said she would." "OK," says the father, "now go upstairs and ask your
        older sister the same question." Again the boy returns after a short
        while, and again he says "She said she would." "So, you see son," the
        father says, "theoretically we have two million dollars in our house,
        but practically we have two whores."

    • I guess this just goes to show that everyone has his price.

      A suit is more often than not looking for a price. This just means this price met his criteria.

    • What's your problem ? Just take the money and still make that lawsuit. I bet MS won't ask you to return the money.

      Or just take it and run away.

      $9.75m will make you nice life in any 3rd world country.

      I do not see any sense in playing fair with a partner that has proven himself untrustworthy.

      • "What's your problem ? Just take the money and still make that lawsuit. I bet MS won't ask you to return the money."

        Nope, you can't do that. A settlement is a contractual agreement saying, "we give you money and you can't sue us."

        A person close to the CCIA said, "if anything, this may boost the CCIA's ability to recruit new members." This settlement sounds less like a financial move and more like the CCIA just wanted to improve its relations with Microsoft and make their organization a 'safer investmen
      • My old boss had a rule about bribes: "You can take the bribe and keep it, as long as the fraud squad wires you for sound during the payoff".

        Sure enough, one of his colleagues in name withheld by request got to pocket a substantial bonus.

        • Its not a bribe. Its only a bribe if it comes from a private citizen. Otherwise its a settlement or a payement. If it gets investigated, it may turn into an illegal payment, but its never a bribe.

          Kind of like how if you sell your services as a soldier, you are a mercenary, but if you work for a company that sells your services as a soldier, you are a private military contractor.
      • $9.75m will make you nice life in any 3rd world country.

        Dude, $9.75m will make you a good life in any 1st world country. Even if you just put it in a savings account, you're still making about $200k per year in interest.
    • I'm just amazed that someone besides the attorneys collected anything.

  • Surprise! (Score:5, Funny)

    by gowen ( 141411 ) <gwowen@gmail.com> on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:51AM (#10908121) Homepage Journal
    I'm shocked, shocked!, to discover that an out-of-court settlements that consists of paying off your antagonists. Next you'll be telling me that Michael Jackson's settlements were somehow related to the $20 million that he forked out, rather than plaintiffs reaching mutual understanding.

    Next week Slashdot will discuss : "The Pope : could he be a Catholic?"
    • Next you'll be telling me that Michael Jackson's settlements were somehow related to the $20 million that he forked out, rather than plaintiffs reaching mutual understanding.

      There is a small difference, however, in these two cases. The boy and MJ acted as private individuals and settled as private individuals. Mr. Black, OTOH, acted as an official but netted the money as a private individual. This is why MJ's case is a settlement and the CCIA case is a bribery.

      I would not care less if he got $10M 'pension

    • And appearing in "The Pope just might be Catholic 2": Business people sue and settle not because they think they're right, not because they want to change company behavior (hey, I might be on top next time!), not because they give a rat's ass about how better or worse off you may be, but rather because they only cared about getting money.

  • $20 million? To make an antitrust suit disappear? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by WIAKywbfatw ( 307557 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:54AM (#10908137) Journal
    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.

    • To be fair, they had to give Novell ~$500M to buy their silence, as I recall.

    • seems fair... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      ... considering the US presidency only costs about $100 mil

      $20 mil for legal immunity sounds about right.
      • Not to get to OT:

        I think it cost a little more than that. Plus there are thousands of volunteers. Ultimately, if you could really buy the election then all that money Soros, et al, were pumping in would have helped more.

        Money greases the wheels, but it's not going to make radical changes.

        I'm sure it didn't help when Ballmer said, "You got change for a billion?".

    • But it all ads up (Score:5, Interesting)

      by SmallFurryCreature ( 593017 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:30AM (#10908303) Journal
      Being a criminal is not all that much fun. Rarely mentioned is the constant need to pay everyone off. A few million here, a few million there. Now nokia has left. How much are they going to need to keep silent eh?

      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!

      • Re:But it all ads up (Score:2, Insightful)

        by tacocat ( 527354 )

        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.

        How old are you? You seem to be ignorant of the fact that this kind of behaviour has been going on with MSFT longer th


      • 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?

        and what good will that do?

        here we already have a blatant case where *everyone* knows "who has been paid off for how much", the consequences of which are ... business as usual.

        I bet they can even write it off against the pitifuly tax they pay.

      • So what if the FT write-up makes it clear that it's little short of bribery? The real consequence of this action is the CCIA now can't take legal action against Microsoft and that Microsoft can carry on doing what it likes.

        You think that the average guy buying his next PC or software in his local computer store cares whether Microsoft is "a clearly corrupt company" or not? It doesn't stop virtually every Fortune 500 company dealing with them, does it?

        And as for the mainstream press, well, to them Microsof

      • 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.

        Are you insinuating that Microsoft is the only "clearly corrupt" major corporation in the US, or that they are merely one of a few? After all, we know that the IBMs, AT&Ts, Worldcoms, Enrons, and all the other major corporations would never do anything unethical just to make a buck.

        Seriously, I'm no Microsoft fanboy (just look at my

    • > 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.

      "Hold on a minute, Gillian Anderson and I have to open another magnum of Dom Perignon to help us wash down the beluga caviar grits we just finished licking outa Natalie Portman's belly button", he explained.

  • I myself profited from this settlement (Score:5, Funny)

    by kahei ( 466208 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:55AM (#10908139) Homepage

    Saw this in the FT this morning. Had a sweepstake on how long it would be before it appeared on /. -- and I won!

    I pocketed what I'll just describe as a 'large one-digit sum'.

    Heh heh heh... now to spend my wealth while industry as a whole suffers...

  • They're all the same. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by inflex ( 123318 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:56AM (#10908141) Homepage Journal
    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".

    • The more I see of capitalism, the more I'm glad that I'm content to work from home earning "enough to get by".

      Indeed, I envy Ed Black for this excellent deal as well ... *sigh* ;-)
      • Aye yes, I try not to tell myself "That could be you too" - I'd go insane otherwise :-(

        Now, if someone would kindly pay me 10% of what Mr Black just got, I'll quietly go away :-P

  • Why pay him off? (Score:5, Funny)

    by 192939495969798999 ( 58312 ) <infoNO@SPAMdevinmoore.com> on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:56AM (#10908142) Homepage Journal
    Since when is silencing one person's allegations worth 9 million dollars? Couldn't they just have arranged an "accident" for him?
    • If you're some nobody, like the nuke worker Karen Silkwood, or the reporter Casolero, then sure ... your death may well be arranged. But if you are a member of the elite, then there's little risk. Movements of money like this is merely part of the "Great Game" of playing with the vacuous notion of electrons that allegedly stand for labor time, railroad cars of lumber, ships full of crude oil, etc. Paying each other off is a matter of you and me honoring a $50 bet on last week's ball game.

      After all, it

    • Re:Why pay him off? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ozbird ( 127571 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @09:40AM (#10908794)
      Couldn't they just have arranged an "accident" for him?

      They did - hence the news reports... $20M to silence a critic is a good deal, but to discredit them as well it's a bargain.

    • Re:Why pay him off? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Jokkey ( 555838 )
      "Never try to extort more than it costs to have you killed."

  • everyman has his price... (Score:5, Funny)

    by hostylocal ( 827126 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:56AM (#10908143)
    ... and you gotta admit that he got a fairly good price!
    i wonder if he's getting it in cash or a couple of SQL Server licences...

  • Stinks twice over ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by YeeHaW_Jelte ( 451855 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:57AM (#10908146) Homepage
    Firstly because of the settlement. They should have let it go to court, settlements imho always give the impression that it isn't to do about justice, but just about money.
    Secondly because to say the least, it seems very dubious that Ed Black pockets half the money himself. It's not like he was damaged personally in the case to which the settlement applies, or was he?

    This smell fishy and I can't blame Nokia for saying 'all nice and well, but we won't be part of this.'
    • Criminal cases are about justice, civil cases are about settling disputes. This case is a civil matter and money has a way of settling disputes very quickly.

      Personally, I hope Nokia had good reason to back out of this thing, and I hope they will eventually go public with those reasons.

  • Hmmm... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Burb ( 620144 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @07:58AM (#10908151)
    Could this be why Nokia quit the CCIA right after the settlement was announced, saying matters were not handled "in the proper way"?"

    Could this be an unwarranted inference on the part of the poster?

  • OSDL and RedHat are CCIA members too (Score:5, Informative)

    by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:03AM (#10908174) Homepage
    His payment was approved by the CCIA board, which includes Sun Microsystems, Yahoo and Oracle.

    And OSDL and RedHat [ccianet.org]. Was the submitter trying to imply complicity between Sun and Microsoft by omitting those other members from that list?

  • Best deals... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:05AM (#10908177)
    I liked this link from the "Related Links" section of the article:

    Best deals: The Courts

    Whoa.
    • I liked this link from the "Related Links" section of the article:


      Best deals: The Courts

      Right. Did you actually click on the link? You get this gem:

      You may also find useful results for 'The Courts' in Video Games.

  • Corruption (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Afty0r ( 263037 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:12AM (#10908199) Homepage
    Interestingly, Nokia is a Scandinavian country - and these countries tend to have strong anti-corruption laws (especially Finland) - corruption is regarded as highly unethical and unacceptable from a social POV. If this act had been committed by Fins, or in Finland I imagine people from both sides would be doing jail time by now...

    • Re:Corruption (Score:5, Funny)

      by RPoet ( 20693 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:16AM (#10908218) Journal
      Interestingly, Nokia is a Scandinavian country

      That's a common misconception. Nokia is not a country, it's the capital of Finland! Gee, stupid Americans.

      • Re:Corruption (Score:4, Informative)

        by LucidBeast ( 601749 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:27AM (#10908284)
        No no, Nokia is the second largest city in Finland formerly known as Espoo (my fair home town). There used to be a town called Nokia in Finland and some say it still exists, but like Santas village - nobody knows where it lays.

        Please keep buying Nokia phones and you help keep our city tax rate down.

        As for corruption. You can hardly buy a cup of coffee in Finland for your client without getting the local equivalent of IRS breathing down your neck.

      • Re:Corruption (Score:2, Insightful)

        by sekicho ( 570184 )
        Depending on how you define "capital," that could be either funny or insightful.
      • That's a common misconception. Nokia is not a country, it's the capital of Finland! Gee, stupid Americans.
        Whooops! - "is from" should have been in there somewhere.

        And just in defence of Americans, I'm from the UK and usually bash Americans for getting geography wrong :)

    • Re:Corruption (Score:5, Informative)

      by SorcererX ( 818515 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:19AM (#10908244) Homepage
      Nokia is not a Scandinavian country. Nokia is a Finnish company. Finland is not part of Scandinavia, Scandinavia is Norway, Sweden and Denmark. It is a common misinterpretation to consider Scandinavia the same as the "Nordic countries" which include Finland and Iceland. The term "Scandinavian" was created prior to Finland's independence from the Soviet Union.
    • Unethical and unacceptable conduct? Oh my! I can hear thousands of people clammering just to say "no, that's just the way business is done... everyone does it... it's normal, it's ordinary so it's okay..." Makes me want to move to Nokia. ;) I need to check the map where Nokia is first though -- there's a Nokia building not too far from where I live though I guess it's an embassy or something. Maybe I'll go there an apply for citizenship -- the pay seems okay.

  • Wow (Score:5, Funny)

    by LittleBigScript ( 618162 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:13AM (#10908206) Homepage Journal
    Where can I go and get a degree in being a corporate board member or a CEO?

    They seem to be low skill, high pay jobs. And if you get fired, you get a firing bonus in the millions.

    • Hell (Score:3, Informative)

      by gosand ( 234100 )
      Where can I go and get a degree in being a corporate board member or a CEO? They seem to be low skill, high pay jobs. And if you get fired, you get a firing bonus in the millions.

      Hell. All you have to do is sign a deal with the Devil.

    • Re:Wow (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Flyboy Connor ( 741764 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:41AM (#10908360)
      Where can I go and get a degree in being a corporate board member or a CEO?

      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.

  • Bribes`r`us? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by miffo.swe ( 547642 ) <{daniel.hedblom} {at} {gmail.com}> on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:25AM (#10908274) Homepage Journal
    How can any judge in the EU or anywhere else look at this as anything but a bribe? I have a hard time imaging a judge who they tell that MS is so much better now will take them seriously now that this little gem is out.
    • And don't forget Novell's $536M [slashdot.org] to withdraw their complaint from the existing EU case.

    • Re:Bribes`r`us? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MikeBabcock ( 65886 )
      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.

  • Profit? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Alioth ( 221270 ) <no@spam> on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:29AM (#10908293) Journal
    It has to be said:

    1. Get to head of industry body
    2. Criticise Microsoft
    3. ????
    4. Profit!

    Although, I guess the ???? bit has been worked out now.
  • Went to their web site and saw this. "CCIA today asked Congress to exempt foreign nationals holding advanced degrees from US Universities from H-1B visa quotas. The letter notes that without these exemptions, these individuals will work overseas for our nation's competition and leave a gaping hole in the workforce of domestic companies. Because the US has not produced enough advanced degrees in math, science and engineering companies must look abroad for workers. The requested exemption allows US firms to

    • Re:this may be unrelated but (Score:5, Funny)

      by ozric99 ( 162412 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:56AM (#10908441) Journal
      I have friends and myself have computer science/math degrees and have programmed in c/c++ and prefer to be a system admin - but I have been turned down by positions because I have been told I am asking too much money. this is the reason why they want these people they will work for basically no salary - they just want to live over here because our country actually has running water and toilets. so basically this is a bunch of crap!!!

      I completely agree. I came over here from the UK and boy was I surprised when I found out that I could pull a lever and get water out! The best thing - you can get it hot or cold!!! Just wait until mother and father hears about this when I send my next letter back home. They'll be so pleased I'm not wallowing around in the mud looking for bugs like my brothers and sisters.

  • You know, this might be the way to go for them. I certainly would stop complaining about Microsoft if they gave me $9.75M. Hell, I'd quit bitching for just $2M! Instead of spending so much money on advertising, they should just give it directly to people who hate them.

  • unsettling (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @08:54AM (#10908424) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • Suing Micro$oft for Fun and Profit (Score:3, Insightful)

    by thelizman ( 304517 ) <hammerattack@ya h o o . c om> on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @09:11AM (#10908544) Homepage
    I pointed this out a long time ago when Lindows (now Linspire) began suing Microsoft on anti-trust grounds, with proceeds from the suit to be paid to Windows-users in the form of copies of Lindows.

    Anti-Microsoft zealots gladly look the other way whem MS takes the hit, whether its wrong or right. Now that the big money is in the game, and people are suing for fun and profit, and it's *not* a Linux company getting the green, suddenly everyone is worried. pshaw!

  • Comedy (Score:5, Funny)

    by The Dodger ( 10689 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @09:13AM (#10908563) Homepage

    Edward Black, chief executive of the CCIA, said he regretted losing Nokia as a member, adding: "We understand their reasons."
    ..before hanging up the phone to resume rolling around naked on the dollar-strewn floor, laughing manically and throwing fistfuls of dollars into the air.

    I don't blame him. Fuck, if I got offered $9.75m to stop bitching about Microsoft, I'd take Gates' arm off at the elbow!


    D.

  • Fail-out. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by JaJ_D ( 652372 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @09:16AM (#10908595)
    the bbc [bbc.co.uk] 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

  • Pocket Change (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Mulletproof ( 513805 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @09:19AM (#10908619) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • Lather, Rinse, repeat? (Score:3, Funny)

    by RedLaggedTeut ( 216304 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @09:48AM (#10908853) Homepage Journal
    What keeps someone from just forming a new association and repeating the process?

    Hey, i patent that!

  • E-mail Adress (Score:3, Informative)

    by goatan ( 673464 ) <ian.hearn@rpa.gsi.gov.uk> on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @10:05AM (#10908997) Journal
    Here's ed black's e-mail address so you can practice your right to free speech tell him what you think of corruption

    eblack@ccianet.org

  • Copy the details of the original lawsuit, file it under your *AA association's name, then wait for Microsoft to make you an offer you can't refuse. Hey, if everyone did that, Microsoft would either go broke paying people off, or be forced to go to trial and lose! Cool!

  • The Media's Role (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Frescard ( 807703 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @11:02AM (#10909456)
    Why is it that nowadays the media isn't capable of calling a spade a spade anymore? Here we got a case where the position of the writer is quite obvious, and he describes the case is a matter that leaves any thinking person no other conclusion than to assume bribery. But the writer (or at least his editor) just can't dare to actually say the word out loud. If they'd be talking about elephants we'd be hearing somthing like "Ah, yes. We got a big, gray animal here, with four huge round legs, and two flappy ears, and in the front there's a long, flexible trunk...", but they'd never dare to actually use the 'E'-word. I thought this incapability of calling things by it's name were just limited to election issues (and certain presidents' behaviours), but it seems that in general we can't expect the media to call things by it's proper names anymore.

  • Hey! (Score:3, Funny)

    by gargonia ( 798684 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @11:03AM (#10909463)
    I've been a vocal critic of Microsoft for a lot longer than this guy! Where's my payoff!?!!?!
  • This announcement [ccianet.org] says that Microsoft has joined the CCIA. Check out the summary of the CCIA's mission at the bottom:

    The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) is a nonprofit membership organization for companies and senior executives from diverse sectors of the computer and communications industry.

    CCIA's mission is to further our members' business interests by being the leading industry advocate in promoting open, barrier-free competition in the offering of computer and communicatio

  • This was Ballmer's number one project this year. (Score:4, Funny)

    by rspress ( 623984 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @11:47AM (#10909803) Homepage
    Ballmer wanted to get all lawsuits out of the way. The best way to do that was pay off everyone. Ballmer laid out his top 10 plans in order of importance.

    1. Pay off all litigants.

    2. Buy a new shirt, all the my others have pit stains.

    3. Investigate what antiperspirant is

    4. Attend next class of the Howard Dean speech school

    5. Hostile take-over of The Hair Club for men for their technology.

    6. Steal Apples ideas, rebrand as Microsofts.

    7. Portray everyone who uses a non-microsoft MP3 player as thieves. Portray Windows users as honest folk...ignore questions about product activation that contacts our servers.

    8. Buy another shirt, this one is pit stained already.

    9. Say I saw linux developers dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight.

    10. Fix security in Windows, if we can.

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"If there isn't a population problem, why is the government putting cancer in the cigarettes?" -- the elder Steptoe, c. 1970

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