The Billy Pulpit

Believe it or not, I hate to take sides, but when a littlecompany like Microsoft is picked on by the Justice Department'santitrust division for taking its development skills into themarketplace, a person has no choice but to demand that Janet Renoget off little Billy's back.

The key to the war is a freckle-faced boy named Bill Gates whowants to monopolize all the computer software in the world.

Those of us who support the little guy don't believe there isanything wrong with that because someone has to make software, andif it isn't us, it will be the Chinese. It is estimated that Gatesstands to make $65 billion to $75 billion, which is not Internetchopped liver."What is wrong with Gates tying up all the software businessin the world?" I asked a Justice Department lawyer.The attorney replied, "Nothing, if he says please. We hatecompanies who think they can just dump on the competitionwilly-nilly."I asked a Gates lawyer (there are 45,000 representingMicrosoft) the same question. He said, "All we 45,000 lawyers wantis to give Gates a fair shake.""That's reasonable. But suppose Microsoft owns all thesoftware in the country, and Rainy Weather Apples can't sell any ofits software?""It's hard to imagine that Mr. Gates would want to keepanother company from doing any business. What's in it for him?"The government attorney said, "It's nothing personal. We'regoing to sock it to Gates so he won't get big pants."It's very difficult for the average person to judge who isright and who is wrong. In this dispute, on one side you have afeisty company head who just wants to do good. On the other hand,you have a full battalion of lawyers who believe in the right ofevery American to have his own network.I say bet on the little redheaded guy. Gates can buy the entiregovernment -- but everyone knows he doesn't want it.(C) 1998, Los Angeles Times Syndicate