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Today's YouTube: US v. Microsoft 10 Years Later

By Pamela Jones et al.

I found a treasure on YouTube. Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society has a channel on YouTube now. And they held a conference in September on the US antitrust trial against Microsoft, collecting many of the players in that famous litigation, including David Boies. So it's your opportunity to see him in action. As usual, he's impressive. I think you'll find his explanation of trials as morality plays intriguing. He talks about highly technical trials, and how the judge finally has to decide who he believes, based on credibility. In the SCO context, I'd say that might not be a winning strategy.

: D

Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, was there too, although he wasn't at Microsoft at the time, but he is refreshingly candid about that trial, saying you can't put lipstick on that pig. He goes on to talk about his efforts to start a new chapter for Microsoft, which I found interesting in that it provides some context into Microsoft's efforts to be less obviously horrible about interoperability, even if you view what is said with one cynical eye open. In any case, fairness alone would cause me to mention it to you. Truth is complex and multi-faceted, and it's really fascinating stuff.

Full post as published by Groklaw on December 01, 2008 (boomark / email).