Maybe Microsoft is trying to persuade people that they’re not so smart after all…
Some of you probably know that the Microsoft anti-trust trial is still dragging on. There isn’t quite enough room here to go into the whys and wherefores of the current proceeding (and it’s late and I’m tired), but each side is getting 19 witnesses to persuade a judge just how much dinner Microsoft should be sent to bed without.
Microsoft’s first witness was Jerry Sanders, the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, the No. 2 chip maker. During his testimony, it emerged that he was testifying at the direct request of Bill Gates, that it was the second favor Gates had ever asked of him — and the fourth time in 33 years in the business that the two had spoken. It further emerged that Sanders, who was testifying in opposition to punitive remedies requested by nine states, didn’t actually know what he was testifying against; he was taking Gates’s word for it.
Moreover, it came out that Sanders currently has a request before Microsoft that the software company include support for AMD’s new microprocessor architecture. I’m certain that Microsoft would have judged AMD’s case on its merits even if Sanders couldn’t have made himself available to testify. Don’t you think so?