Robert Lande Microsoft Quotations

If all she was going to do was rubber-stamp the settlement between the Department of Justice and Microsoft and say that the states get nothing, she could have done that in two or three months. I think it means the states are going to get something.

If you don't trust the other person, you don't negotiate well with them. Microsoft has had two years to figure out a behavioral remedy that has lots of loopholes and escape clauses in it.

I think Microsoft will win on the tying issue at the appeals court level, but whether they will win that point at the Supreme Court is another question.

She wants to be really sure that there's no inconsistencies. Microsoft is going to appeal anyway, but one of the things they would say is that she's being inconsistent.

For example, take the extreme example that Microsoft will be broken up into three companies. That won't happen until the appeals are exhausted. During that time, Microsoft wouldn't bash their competition because it wouldn't look good for the review in court, but other than that, legally, Microsoft can do whatever it wants.

Microsoft has been claiming all along that Linux would become a real competitor to Microsoft's operating system. If you stretch this out long enough, who knows, they could be right. Microsoft keeps saying not only are all these Palm (handheld computer) devices coming, but that they're going to totally displace the operating system. If you stretch this out a year, two years, that could happen.

Microsoft makes a pretty powerful case that they need more time. The idea of a breakup wasn't raised officially until April 28, so this hearing comes less than a month later.