John McCain Corruption Alert

Could it be that Microsoft is not the only one who knows how to manipulate market conditions for its own profit? Today Robert Novak points out the surprisingly large amount of campaign contributions received by state Attorneys General from Microsoft's rivals, such as Oracle and Novell. Why would they contribute the campaigns of state Attorneys General? Why, because the AGs are the ones who are suing Microsoft, and who get to decide if any proposed settlement punishes the company enough. And who is most interested in seeing Microsoft kept in court through the next several waves of innovation? Naturally enough, the companies that have been trying, often unsuccessfully, to compete against the big M's products. Why bother coming up with a strategy for winning in the software market when you can buy a strategy for winning in the market for political influence?