Microsoft Supported by Dead People
By Thor Olavsrud


Apparently the dead are fed up with the government's antitrust case against
Microsoft Corp. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times Thursday
morning, letters purportedly written by at least two dead people have made
their way onto the desk of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. The letters
asked Shurtleff to go easy on the company.
According to the article, the letters, along with those of 400 Utah
citizens, are part of a nationwide "grassroots" campaign orchestrated by
pro-Microsoft groups Americans for Technology Leadership (ATL) and Citizens
Against Government Waste. The groups receive some funding from Microsoft but
won't disclose how much.
The Times reported that the ATL calls citizens and says it is conducting a
poll about the Microsoft case. Respondents who say they support the company
are then sent individually written letters on personalized stationary, with
varying wording, color and typeface, along with hand stamped, pre-addressed
envelopes. The envelopes are addressed to their state attorney generals,
President Bush and their Congressional representatives.
ATL Executive Director Jim Prendergrast first said respondents who expressed
support for Microsoft were only given suggestions about what to write in
their own letters. But after he was asked why some phrases were identical,
he admitted that his group wrote the letters, according to the Times.
Citizens Against Government Waste, on the other hand, distributed identical
letters to citizens. Those varied only by the signature attached. The two
letters from beyond the grave came from the Citizens Against Government
Waste crop. According to the Times, family members crossed out the names and
signed for them. Another letter was sent from "Tuscon, Utah," a city that
doesn't even exist.
Regulators evidently became suspicious when they noticed that some of the
same phrases appeared in numerous letters, and that some return addresses
were invalid.

I am fed up with it as well.

Why did only 19 states jump on the anti-Microsoft bandwagon?

Excluding Washington State, that leaves 30 states that weren't harmed by Microsoft business practices.

Just settle the damm thing already.  What a waste of taxpayer money.

What was that BS fine supposed to be before?

$1,000,000 dollars a F'KN day!!!!

- Extort the tobacco companies

- Extort the gun companies

- Extort Microsoft

Soon to come:

- Extort the alcoholic beverage industry