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THE ACSA ASSERTS: THE "PERSECUTION OF BILL GATES AND MICROSOFT" IS THE SAME THING AS: "MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON" -- SUGGESTING JANET RENO AND THE SEC KNOW LESS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY THAN THE AVERAGE 13 YEAR OLD KID!11/06/97 -- NEW YORK, NY -- The American Computer Scientists Association (http://acsa.net on the Internet) issued a scathing opinion statement at a membership wide broadcast conference on the Internet today. The conference involved ACSA's 65,000 Life Members, as many of its 2.5 Million Associate Members as could be reached, and 10,000 Corporate Location members. The opinion statement was OUTSPOKENLY IN SUPPORT of Microsoft Corporation. It proposed that Microsoft needed protection, so that it's rights were not violated: "the right to engage in competitive software development and sales, the right to provide products which are, in Microsoft's view, the best solution for the needs and requirements of their many customers and end-users of desktop PCs, and their right to enforce the contractual arrangements they offer the PC manufacturers in exchange for volume pricing". The Journal of Computer Science, an ACSA publication, had previously published studies of the basis of the reason for the opinion. The statement issued by ACSA appeared to indicate that the Association was vigorously OPPOSED to the actions by the Justice Department and the Securities Exchange Commission, calling the publicity effected by both Agencies "a disingenuous and devious exercise: Microsoft Bashing on behalf of Special Business Interests". ACSA said the DOJ lawsuit and the comments by Attorney General Janet Reno would have the net overall effect of "raising our phone bills even higher than they already are, while wasting even more of the Taxpayer's money" on what it believes to be "largely misguided attacks on Microsoft by lawmakers who, it appears, know even less about how PCs and the Internet work than the average 13 year old kid." The following are excerpts taken from the broadcast. Excerpts from the ACSA Internet Broadcast The Chairman of ACSA, opening the Broadcast, commented: "In a Free Market, our Government is now doing by proxy to Microsoft, what Dung Chow Ping's administration in China did a few years ago to dissent among its citizens at Tiananmen Square: Microsoft is being steamrollered through a concerted effort by certain key individuals in business, government and certain parts of the World Press, to prejudice our economic choices. They are using our system of Government in a manner which is prejudiced and which violates the very law they claim to be upholding, for they are behaving in FAVOR of the Reigning Monopoly over the INTERNET held by descendents of the Bell System, and the all powerful Telephone Company Lobby. We, the People, unfortunately, are paying for this Microsoft Bashing effort every time we pay ridiculous long distance and other telephone bills. And, we will inevitably have to pay even more 'taxi-metered' line charges to use Across-The-Internet software applications such as Netscape's, if Attorney General Janet Reno has her way with Bill Gates, and we are left with but one choice: Netscape." During the broadcast, ACSA condemned those "who have only economic motives for cooperating in what has turned into The Persecution of Microsoft", a persecution it has suggested it believes is "damaging and repressing the American free enterprise spirit: suppressing individualism, undermining the desire of its people to spawn innovation and attempting to dissuade us all from engaging in entrepreneur-ism", through a malicious effecting of politically motivated anti-Trust actions, at the Taxpayer's expense. A foundation spokesperson expressed the general opinion of ACSA: "Notwithstanding the enormous strength of the existing Monopoly over the Internet held by the Bell System and its descendents, including its provision of the Communications Lines that make up its Infra-Structure, provision of the Directory Services, its relationship to the historical existence of Sun Microsystems, Netscape Communications and Novell Corporation, we can not find a single additional reason for the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FCC nor the US Department of Justice to have made Microsoft the victim of a lynch mob approach to resolving competitive disputes in and among technology providers in the US Computer Industry." "It's almost like saying that one company which manufactures a popular type of Picture Tube used in more televisions than any other, now has a Monopoly over the Television Broadcast Industry. The allegation, aside from being wrong, tends to mislead the Public and incites to riot. It plays on our fundamental desire for Liberty, and in the case of the Microsoft Anti-Trust action, seeks to pit us ALL against the underdog." "We are forced to conclude that, in a manner similar to the Taylor Machine in the famous film: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - an existing evil amid the Washington, DC political arena, one which funds campaigns, one which runs a huge lobby that appears intent upon misleading the public, one which has its own huge and largely monopolistic economic interests, and a glaringly bold need to profit from our daily use of Communications: the Telephone Company lobby, has besieged us, all of us, and is now depriving 'We, the People' a fundamental right: as suffers Microsoft so hideous, so suffers every individual American, without really knowing the Truth, we are all suffering in a manner that has gotten completely out of hand, totally out of control and utterly horrific." The Association's spokesperson continued: "We, as computer scientists, some of us with 30 years or more programming and hardware development behind us, do not always agree with Microsoft's approach to software design or development. In fact, many of us compete with Microsoft. However: we realize that Microsoft is a commercial entity operating from a consensus that focuses on a) its innate need to satisfy its shareholders through profits; b) the resulting need to make certain its products are competitive; and c) the absolute requirement that it legally protect its Intellectual Property, personnel and work product from being looted by its competition." "We believe that it is true that it is Software which sells consumers on a particular kind of Hardware. However, we believe that simply because one company's software product is more popular than another, like the analogy of the popular Picture Tube, namely: Microsoft Windows operating system, and that it has survived the scrutiny of users who rejected competitors, namely UNIX (a product of the Bell System), Apple MAC OS (a product of a company which based its technology on Bell Laboratories technology, namely, the Motorola 68000 family), IBM VM and MVS, Solaris (a derivative of UNIX) and the Network Computer (products such as Oracle, WEBTV, etc., which have only been moderately successful), does not mean it is the kind of Monopoly that the framers of the Sherman and Clayton Anti-Trust Acts envisioned. In fact, they were looking for the cloth of a John D. Rockefeller, Sr. and Standard Oil, or a J. P. Morgan, and his huge vertical and horizontal monopoly over dozens of industries like Steel, Power and Banking, or the very Bell System of the 70's that appears now to be inspiring all the bashing. Microsoft, has not in any way conspired to cause themselves to dominate any part of the Internet. Quite the opposite, today, as the facts bear out. We don't even know from one day to the next, which direction Public Interest will turn. So only those Institutions which provide, in a Consortium, many different facets of the Internet, could be considered Monopolistic." "We believe that today, Netscape Navigator is used in more households to connect to the Internet than any other browser. They and Sun Microsystems, and their ISP and Server Partners operate much as a consortium, with the Telephone Companies in THEIR corner. The competition facing Microsoft - a $15 Billion Dollar a year enterprise itself - amounts to Sun, Netscape and the Telephone Industry: a Giant Telecommunications Consortium which today controls in excess of $1 Trillion Dollars a Year in overall communications related revenues. While Microsoft is a highly valuable Company and one of the World's largest software companies, Microsoft is actually much, much smaller than its competition, which it must stand alone against, without even so much as a single hand raised in its defense by most of its Customers." "We believe that the allegation that Microsoft has any 'Monopoly over the Internet' is a BOLD-FACED LIE. They do not". "We are of the opinion that the alliance between Netscape and over 400 Internet Service Providers in the United States alone (ten times that of Microsoft) is a matter of fact that Netscape Communications avows to daily in their numerous marketing efforts. America On-Line provides On-Line Services to over 10 million users, (five times that of Microsoft Network). IBM Corporation provides Back Office processing on its ES/9000 and AS/400 in virtually ALL of Corporate America. And, Integrated products, like Netscape Virtual Office, simply will not work with Microsoft Internet Explorer: Netscape has made its browser work in ways that Microsoft's browser does not, by adding special features, as has Microsoft to its, that do not adhere to the International Standard of the Internet. They have, in fact, LOCKED Microsoft out of products like Netscape Virtual Office, for the time being, while Netscape can easily integrate with Microsoft Office." "We have also become of the opinion that any suggestion that Netscape and its partners MIGHT be a Monopoly in control of the Internet, were it not for the existence of Microsoft, MIGHT BE TRUE !" "As a result, we have concluded from our analysis, that the Public has, at least, TWO good choices of alternative software, one of which, Netscape, is backed by a Consortium that has a veritable Monopoly over the operation of the Internet." "We have tested and determined that Microsoft Windows, both Windows 95 AND Windows 98, is 100% compatible with and can run Netscape very well, even if not as tightly coupled to Windows Explorer, the limited features of Windows 98 Integration of Internet Explorer DO NOT IMPEDE the FUNCTION of NETSCAPE in its NORMAL METHOD OF OPERATION." "However, we have determined it appears that Netscape 'applets' and applications such as Netscape Virtual Office, will work ONLY in Netscape, and are NOT COMPATIBLE with Microsoft Internet Explorer, through no fault of Microsoft. It also appears that both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape appear to lock the other party out of some of their respective advantageous features, yet both appear to run equally well on Microsoft's Windows operating system, while Netscape ALSO appears to run under UNIX, Guardian, Linux, Solaris. According to Netscape Communications, they claim to own 75% of the Internet Servers on the Internet, Apache owns another 28%, and Microsoft only provides 12%. We have also noted that the action to BASH Microsoft appears to be concurrent to Sun Microsystems, another part of the competitive Consortium that has the Monopoly over the Internet, suing Microsoft to attempt to compel Microsoft to make its systems 100% compatible with Sun JAVA, rather than attempting to improve upon it, even though recently the International Standards Organization refused to award Sun's JAVA a Standards certification." "Accordingly, no matter what Senator Hatch may have concluded, nor what Janet Reno may have decided to publicize, we are of the opinion that they are both COMPLETELY INCORRECT." "Our Conclusions: In terms of technology and in the basic legal issues involved: Microsoft is the CHALLENGER, and NETSCAPE and SUN are the LEADERS, and no amount of impropriety by any Government Agency is going to change that. And in the future, NETSCAPE and SUN stand to displace Microsoft from the desktop, by offering applications that run ACROSS THE INTERNET into NETSCAPE in a manner one would find it hard to imagine Microsoft being able to follow. They (Netscape and Sun) have the advantage, they (Sun and Netscape) are part of a Monopolistic Consortium that is pushing us in a direction that will have us paying HIGH FEES just to use the Telephone Company's communications at speeds that are, eventually, acceptable, and neither JUSTICE nor the PUBLIC INTEREST is being served by either the Attorney General or Sen. Hatch and the SEC's incorrect allegations. They are both, apparently, completely blind to the facts and can see only the success of the PC, without realizing they both have it entirely BACKWARDS, as to the Internet." "We must abhor and condemn the conduct of the Attorney General and we must condemn the Microsoft Bashing that is going on there. We fear when government is manipulated or bought. We fear the power of the Telephone Company lobby and its retrogressive, pre-1975 communications speed limit. There has been a RUSH TO JUDGEMENT here, one that appears to have been funded by those that are viciously attempting to undermine Bill Gates and Microsoft, out of a mixture of economic jealousy and opportunism. We are sad to be forced to conclude that the Press are being manipulated and the Public, as well." "We have filed letters with Judge Jackson, with the Department of Justice and with the World Press of hopes that blind ignorance of the facts spread by the Attorney General does not supercede what should have been blind Justice in the first place, and should have included Netscape Communications, and the Telephone infrastructure providers to the Internet, all along. Not just Microsoft." A subsequent Question and Answer session ensued. Background The ACSA holds monthly broadcast sessions on the Internet to discuss issues with its membership, using its own Internet Broadcast / Net Meeting server, and the services of CompuServe Online. Past topics of the Seminar and Conference Schedule included discussions of Computer Semiotics with Dr. Karl Pribram, Scientist Paul Prueitt and Professor John Norseen, Advanced Artificial Intelligence hosted by chairperson Jack Shulman, a systems clinic which regularly analyzes advanced Operating Systems, the application of Internetworking and Computers to Automating the Legal Profession, hosted by Legal Professionals and featuring the joint work on LEGIST by Attorney Michael Sproule, Esq., Giving Kids a 2nd Chance through Computer Education, hosted by John Kroboth, and New Dimensions in Advanced Mathematics: the Spiral Geometry, hosted by Prof. Lere O'Shakunle. ACSA is non-profit, a charity engaging as a public foundation in advanced research in Science and Technology and programs of Pro Bono Public Advocacy. The work connected with the Broadcast Conference detailed above was provided by personnel who received no compensation of any kind connected therewith.
Contact: J. Black Voice: 908-931-1200 |
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