On April 22, 2002, Bill Gates personally appeared in court to defend Microsoft, trying to protect the company from severe antitrust sanctions proposed by the attorneys general of nine States. In the four-year trial procedure to determine Microsoft's legal responsibility, Gates was summoned by US District Judge Jackson, but never testified as a witness. On April 24th, Bill Gates admitted for the first time that Microsoft might "slim down" the existing Windows operating system in order to provide a paperback version of Windows for PC users. Previously, Gates has always insisted that this is not feasible and will make Microsoft lose its leading position in the operating system. The Financial Times believes that the change in Gates' attitude is of great significance. Who is the smartest person who recently entered and exited the room 1 1 of the federal court in Washington? There is no doubt that Bill Gates. In this protracted antitrust case, his "remedy" testimony was always accurate and well informed. In this case, nine States have been proposing to implement more effective or "cruel" remedies than the agreement reached between Microsoft and the Ministry of Justice. The plan of the U.S. Department of Justice is a headache enough. The new remedial proposal requires Microsoft to delete the browser and other additional software from the Windows operating system in order to use similar products of Microsoft competitors, which can break Microsoft's monopoly position and give consumers more choices. But this will only push Microsoft into the corner and make it out. Microsoft said that all modified systems must be tested to ensure that they strictly meet the established standards. This means that Microsoft has to test hundreds of versions of Windows. The witnesses in the federal court are all nobody. They can comment on the merits and demerits of Microsoft in the market, but they don't know how to formulate antitrust remedies. Economists and legal scholars can express their opinions on the remedy case, but they can't do anything about software production. -Conquering the American Government According to the latest issue of Fortune magazine, there are two main weapons for Microsoft to conquer the American government: money and lobbying. The close relationship between Microsoft and the US government has a historical origin. In the 2000 presidential election, Microsoft donated $4.6 million to federal candidates and political parties, more than almost all other American companies, only slightly lower than AT&T and twice as much as its strongest competitor, AOL time warner Inc. ... 200 1 year, Microsoft sponsored 36 million cash and software investment worth $654.38+79 million, which made the relationship between Microsoft and politicians extremely harmonious. As early as the mid-1990s, Jack, a well-known lobbyist of Microsoft, took his laptop and mobile phone every day and drove the Cherokee Jeep through the traffic jams, carrying out arduous and excellent lobbying work. Since then, Microsoft has been at the top of Washington with ease. Although the US Department of Justice sued Microsoft for monopolistic business practices in 1998, the relationship between Microsoft and the government began to change substantially. Most people don't know that Microsoft's lobbying power is still surprising. When there are differences with the Washington government, most American companies take the following three steps: one is to fight back, the other is to hinder the implementation of the bill, and the third is to urge legislators to formulate a bill that suits their own interests. Microsoft is smarter. Microsoft can get senior officials in Washington to push the government to keep silent on major issues involving the company's interests. In order to achieve this goal, Microsoft spared no effort. After making several wrong moves at the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999 (trying to deprive the anti-monopoly fund of the Ministry of Justice, etc. ), Microsoft quickly regained its foothold. In Washington, Microsoft has 15 employees in charge of government relations affairs, which is three times that of other companies, and even more than 20 employees in other major States. Microsoft lobbyists even include former party chairman Harry Babel and Clinton administration lawyer Jack Quinn. Such unscrupulous lobbying will naturally lead to public dissatisfaction. Ed Black, chairman of the Computer and Industrial Communication Association (founded by Microsoft's competitors Sun, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and time warner Inc.), pointed out that the purpose of Microsoft's lobbying is to "attempt to undermine the implementation of the law (that is, the investigation and trial of antitrust cases), which can be considered as an act of obstructing judicial justice". Microsoft denied that the company lobbied to prevent law enforcement officials from conducting antitrust investigations. Political donations and other traditional lobbying methods are just some of the weapons commonly used by Microsoft. There are many things you may not think of. For example, Microsoft supports global voting through its website; The Network World Innovation Freedom Organization (FIN), founded in 1998, claimed that the letter supporting Bill Gates was filled with five big boxes. Microsoft also added links to the company's website, selected those from the thousands of emails sent to Bill Gates every day, and vigorously promoted FIN at Comdex Computer Show in Las Vegas. Today, more than 250,000 people have signed up to support Microsoft. In the last two months of 200 1 alone, hundreds of emails screened by FIN were sent to 30 legislators, expressing the hope that legislators would give Microsoft greater trading rights and increase Microsoft's overseas sales. Microsoft also regularly popularizes computer, network, broadband and other knowledge to officials on Capitol Hill, making legislators there feel that Microsoft has an amiable face. -Microsoft's momentum in court is overwhelming. In the protracted trial of Microsoft's antitrust case, it was not until last week that lawyers from nine appellate states had the first chance to "hear" the voice of Bill Gates, a software giant and the world's richest man.