The testimony you won't hear in court
"What about Gates? What about Klein?" she said to no one in particular. I had no answer, so she narrowed her eyes and pointed to the statue of George Meade facing Pennsylvania Avenue. "Where's justice?" she asked.
Meade, the general commanding Union forces at Gettysburg, was not available for comment. But the record demonstrates he knew a good defense was as valuable as a good offense.
Microsoft's Bill Neukom, the attorney commanding his company's legal strategy, must now appreciate the general's regard for high ground and entrenchments.
And the reason, or so it appears at this early juncture, is that Microsoft will need a good defense -- a very good defense.
Listening to David Boies, the government's lead pit bull, you have to wonder how Microsoft will be able to talk its way out of this one.
As he stepped Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson through Uncle Sam's case, the methodical Boies painted a damning picture of a colossus hell-bent on crushing everything in its path, by whatever means necessary, in order to protect its Windows monopoly.
Judge bored to tears?
My read on the judge's reaction: He seemed bored out of his gourd.
Actually, I can feel the judge's pain, too. Boies was returning to familiar ground. Over the past six months, the DOJ has made its case in the press -- officially or through leaks.
The only real novelty on Monday was that Boies was able to quote chapter and verse of Microsoft's alleged misdeeds by quoting the company's own executives -- all the way up the food chain to Mr. Bill himself.
So the court was treated to juicy snippets of memos -- between Microsoft executives, or between Microsoft and other vendors -- used to paint a picture of a company that did not compete on the merits of a superior product ... but on the way it exploited its monopoly over its desktop operating system. And so on and so on.
For their part, the Microserfs will respond by arguing that the snippet-crazy DOJ has twisted the facts out of context and will wind up choking on its allegations. Perhaps they're right.
Microsoft's offer they couldn't refuse
But on Day One of the big trial, I couldn't help but reflect on a dinner I recently had with a PC manufacturer who recounted a story the DOJ would love to hear.
Seems that this vendor -- who, unfortunately, must remain unidentified -- was just about to sign a bundling deal with another software company when a Microsoft heavy turned up at the office to make an offer he couldn't refuse.
The deal was this: If this certain PC maker failed to listen to reason, then a key Microsoft piece of software needed for Windows wouldn't arrive for another six weeks. But sign on the dotted line, and it would arrive the next day.
Needless to say, our Don Corleone knockoff accomplished his mission, and that was that. Except that Microsoft lost the respect of one industry executive who now feels as if he was worked over by a thug.
Yes he was. But the Justice Department's inability to get anybody from the OEM community to stand up and tell the world what they tell the press in private must be a source of frustration for the trustbusters.
That's a story we didn't hear in court today. If we did, maybe someone would have an answer for the woman in the square.
This 'n' that
Elsewhere on the D.C. front: Edelman PR, which flaks for Microsoft, was on hand with full press releases replete with position papers and reprints of favorable stories. "And here's our number just in case you need to get in touch with us." ... A Bill Gates look-alike was seen hanging around the courthouse.
... What with the legal load he's carrying, antitrust chief Joel Klein sported one helluva tan. Does he know something the rest of us should? ...The court uses shorthand to denote trials. But when press badges featured the word "Microsoft," the conspiracy wags watching the members of the Fourth Estate roll in had a field day.
... Separated at birth: Judge Jackson and Tip O'Neill. ... Say this about the feds: They don't play favorites. Even literary luminaries such as Ken Auletta of the New Yorker had to stand on line with the rest of the hoi polloi waiting for a shot at the cheap seats.