(5 of 5)
Can the courts function on Internet time? The problem is particularly stark when it comes to crafting an effective remedy. Like every successful high-tech company, Microsoft is in constant flux. In the past year it has moved quickly to adapt to changing circumstances. In May it paid $5 billion for a chunk of AT&T--thereby guaranteeing that Windows CE-powered set-top boxes will have an inside track on AT&T cable systems. It also invested $600 million in Nextel Communications and bought a 30% stake in a British cable company. Even if Jackson gets a chance to issue a remedial order, he will be aiming at a fast-moving target. It's not at all clear that he'll be able to hit it.
Where does the case go now? The lawyers and the appeals courts will have their say. But ultimately, the most important actor in this drama will be Bill Gates. The Justice Department showcased just how central he was when it made the strategic decision to focus at the trial on his actions--and to make his video deposition and e-mails the public relations centerpiece of its case. Microsoft is Gates' company, and he'll decide how it responds to this latest challenge.
When Bill Gates was growing up, he and his family loved to play games, both intellectual and athletic. They were all competitive, but Bill most of all. "The play was serious," his father recalled. "Winning mattered." For Gates, business is a game, and what makes it superfun for him is that it's superserious. He is a brilliant strategist with great bandwidth, as they say in Redmond, and he works hard to hire the brightest, most dedicated and most competitive associates. He created an atmosphere at Microsoft in which crushing the other guy was a crusade.
It was this Gatesean religion, this take-no-prisoners holy war, that got Microsoft in trouble with the antitrust division--and that runs as a leitmotif through Jackson's findings. But if Gates' character explains the past of this lawsuit, it may also foretell its future. Shortly after Gates hinted at settlement in his videotaped press release, he appeared at a press conference at Microsoft headquarters. This time he seemed more focused on winning--if not before Judge Jackson, then later.
"It's important to recognize that today's filing is just one step in an ongoing legal process that has many steps remaining," Gates declared. Under questioning, he again professed to be interested in a settlement--but quickly veered off into a monologue about the importance of building "great software" and maintaining the freedom to innovate. If anyone in the audience was confused into thinking Gates was giving in, Microsoft general counsel Bill Neukom stepped up next to explain what his boss was really saying. No, the company had no intention of backing down. "We are in it," he said, "for the long haul."
--Reported by David S. Jackson/Los Angeles and Viveca Novak, Elaine Shannon, Karen Tumulty and Adam Zagorin/Washington