f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

 

spring breeze —
I teach my granddaughter
hopscotch

 

tax day —
a battery-powered breeze
stirs the desk chimes

 

 

 

 

“snowflakeSN”  Billie Wilson from The Heron’s Nest – a haikai journal

“spring breeze” and “tax day” vol. VII: 1 (March 2005)

 

 

62 candles–

such beautiful memories

of things I regret

 

 

     Billie Wilson from  frogpond  XXVIII: 1

 

 

• 
  
  by dagosan:  

 

just as slippery

in March —                 

icy roads                 

                         [March 8, 2005]

 

Thanks to Walter Olson for reminding us to read the New York Times article   “shark tiny gray”

“Go ahead.  Test a Lawyer’s Ingenuity.  Try to Limit Damages.”  Of course, I might have

entitled it “Go ahead. Test a Lawyer’s Ingenuity.  Try to Limit Fees.”  (Cf. our Value Billing or Venal Bilking?)

 

  LA writer Peter Miehlman just can’t make a real commitment to see The Gates later this month —

but, he’d like NYC to be ready to set them up again, just in case.  (NYT op/ed, March 8, 2005)  Maybe he

should settle for our coverage, and score a few haiku, too.

 

“snowflakeSN”  “SnowFlakeSN”

potluck — our cell phone blues:

U.S. politicians don’t have the courage to ban a clearly dangerous activity, that is becoming an entitlement for many drivers (NYT article, March 3, 2005). They also continue with the phony notion (first discussed by me in March 2000 here), that hands-free is safer than hand-up cellphoning. (ethicalEsq weighs in)

Instead, hands-free car phoning is just as distracting (it’s the distraction that’s the problem!) and allows the irresponsible to find yet more distracting activities to perform while driving. (see NYT, “For Drivers, a Traffic Jam of Distractions, March 3, 2005)

Three years after the ban on hand-held cells phones started in New York, scofflaws are everywhere; and some pollyanas are silly enough to think that compliance will improve over time, as opposed to the law becoming harder and harder to enforce (see “three years later“, wnyt) Currently, there are so many violators right out in the open, that officers placed on full-time cellphone alert could easily pay for themselves and more.

big surprise from South Dakota: Cell Phone Companies Oppose Ban On Mobile Phones In Cars

some school bus companies in Connecticut haven’t yet banned their drivers from using cell phones while driving.

empty farm wagon a cell phone buzzing under the hay lock out . . . workers burn the editorials to warm their hands the homestead cedars . . . our toy cars follow a dirt road through fallen needles from World Haiku Review, Vintage Haiku from Randy Brooks

March snowfall

wanting more

not wanting more

……………… by dagosan: [March 7, 2005]

after the snow storm

a gust

of sparrows

 

 

 

 

the accused teen
and his lawyer…
dressed for spring  

 

night meditation–
the kittens roll
my bronze Buddha

 

Barry George

“night meditation” from haijinx I:1 (2000)

“after the snow storm” from Manichi Daily News

 

 

by dagosan:  

“snowflakeSN”

 

March —

those big fat

snowflakes

 

 

men’s room sink —

avoiding

the mirror 

                                                                   [March 6, 2005]

 

 In case you didn’t already know that “Wanting it all” is an unrealistic, sure-to-fail,   

sure-to-make-you-miserable approach to life, I invite you to spend a little time with Judith Warner‘s

much-discussed book Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiiety.   On March 4,

I saw Warner and three other women being interviewed on Nightline “about the daily challenges

mothers face in America.”  (Also see NYT book review)  I appreciate how hard it is to be a mother

in today’s Western Civilization — and I know that fathers need to do a lot more parenting. But, I’m

also certain that much of the pressure is self-imposed.  Unless you merely want to prepare your

children to live a life even more pressurized than your own — even more focused on outward signs

of “success” and “achievement” — it’s time to recheck your values, realign your priorities, and

make realistic assessments about what being a good parents requires.  Then, you and your co-

parent need to work together to provide your kids a physical and emotional safety-net, but

not a golden staircase (or parachute).   

 

 

 Carl Strock, the crusty columnist for the (Schenectady, NY) Daily Gazette lends his 

support today to a bill [A 3842] by Schenectady’s Republican Assemblyman James Tedisco,

which would require that snow and ice be removed from the roof of one’s vehicle before hitting

the road. (article & comments, here)  Tedisco has introduced similar bills in other sessions, which

have not been acted upon (as described here).   Strock thinks the fines — $150 to $850 for passenger

vehicles and $450 to $1250 for commercial ones — should be doubled: “One fine for the snow and

one for the knuckleheadedness.”  He explains:

“What do you think is happening to me behind you when your’e 

cruising down the road with half a foot of snow blowing off your

roof into my face?  Do you think I’m humming White Christmas

and welcoming the white out?”

Naturally, libertarians will have a knee-jerk reaction against this law, but I’ve seen far too many hunks

of ice and snow fall off car roofs (and now, super-SUVs much taller than most vehicles), and have

had enough snow blown onto my windshield, to know that such drivers are creating an unnecessary

danger for others (often while on their cellphones, too — same kind of irresponsibility). I’m with Carl.

  In today’s column, Strock also notes the “little media flap” about the 

composite Newsweek  cover of Martha Stewart.  He makes this disclaimer

about his own column-topping photo:

“Not wishing to be the subject of any scandal myself, I

confess that it’s actually a composite, like Newsweek‘s.

The bowtie is mine, but the face, including the jowls,

belongs to a model who agreed to pose on the condition

that the top of his head not be shown because he has a

rare and particularly unslightly scalp condition.” 

Any webloggers want to make similar confessions?  The time is right.

 

  It’s hard to say who are the most annoying: individual “word puritans,” scandalized by

every expletive on the airwaves; private media concerns who give in to such complaints;

or our civil “servants” (i.e., F.C.C.) wasting resources pandering to the first group and policing

the second.  The recent example from Buffalo, NY, station WKBW-TV, which dropped the

Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service for the Blind’s audio signal from its SAP format about

three weeks ago:

 “after a listener complained about an off-color word being read.  Apparently, the

word was from author Tom Wolfe’s latest novel, “I Am Charlotte Simmons.”  Now,

after weeks of negotiations, Channel 7 is bringing the service back on a limited basis,

cutting out all programming between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., when adult material may be

read.”   (Buffalo News, “One complaint limits reading service for the blind,” March 2, 2005)

After 14 years without a problem, “one call from an 89-year-old woman from Lewiston” upset a

wonderful service. (AP/Newsday, March 3, 2005) Actually, I just remembered who should win

the most Annoying Censor Award — the Republican House of Representatives, which last month

passed a bill raising the amount the FCC can fine a broadcaster for indecency violations to $500,000

per incident up from $32,500.  

 

Approaching storm…

a black coat in the meadow

snorts against the wind

 

 

 

 

 

Scent of the dead horse–

descending vortex

of vultures

 

 

 

 

 

Coolness…wind-stirred pines

mirrored in the stream

silhouettes of rising geese

 

 

 

“LIllyShadwell” Rebecca Lilly, from Shadwell Hills 

(Birch Prees Press, 2002)

 

 

 

 

by dagosan:  

the dog

gets all her kisses —

chilled by a wagging tail 

                                       [March 5, 2005]

 

Walter wants us to believe that an award in an antitrust case, under a cy pres fund, which will

be used to educate the public about the benefits of a little-understood existing law relevant to

the case, is equivalent to the use of tax-payer funds in a publicity campaign orchestrated by a

Governor wanting to change current laws drastically.   Walter says:

  “There’s currently a hue and cry over revelations that Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s

administration  used taxpayer funds to prepare materials promoting its view of reforming

wage-and-hour laws; one presumes the same critics deplore the idea of using publicly

driven funds to sway public views in favor of more expansive antitrust enforcement.”

(emphases added)

I guess Walter (careful not to assume) presumes that Schwarznegger’s opposition can’t tell the

difference between tax-payer-funded and “publicly driven.”  (I would agree that chauffered

governors are publicly driven.)

 

Just what does “publicly driven” mean?  Do funds become “publicly driven” because they derive

from a court case brought by private plaintiffs?  Because the state is suing on behalf of its citizen-

consumers?  Are such funds really analogous to money straight from the State treasury and taxpayer

pockets?  Seems like a stretch that might be made by the sort of slippery lawyers Walter so often

decries. 

 

 

The Consumers Fund was open to applications from non-profit organizations for projects related

to food delivery to the needy, nutritional and health outreach, professional education, nutrition

education, research, as well as antitrust enforcement and policy.  [See the Declaration of the Cy Pres

Fund Administrator, Harry M. Snyder, and summaries of the grant applications; other grants went

to a project to deliver food to the homebound, a scholarship fund for health professionals who serve

underserved areas, the improvement of school district nutitrion services, and for a forum on

nutrition and hunger.]  

 

Helping the public understand how antitrust policy and enforcement works to assure competition in

the marketplace — and why that is important to consumers and businesses — seems like a good use

of this cy pres fund.  It’s fairly innocuous — except to the fringe who want all antitrust laws revoked. 

I’d be surprised if Walter were among those radicals.   I’ve known the AAI’s Bert Foer for almost two

decades, and I trust him when he says “Our film and materials will be objectively presented, colorful

and provocative” (AAI press release, Feb. 10, 2005).  A public that understands the issues better may

choose to expand antitrust enforcement — or to rein it in.  Making those choices while informed about

the issues seems like something Walter would applaud — unless he just has an axe to grind or an ox

he’s trying to protect.

• 
  
  
  

  It’s no secret that I am a former antitrust lawyer and an advocate for

  
  

  consumer protection through more competition. 
  
  
• 
  
  
  

  Walter, maybe you should borrow Rebecca’s haiku above in your battles with ATLA.

 

  I’ve complained about Michael Boxley before.   I’m pleased to note

that a judge has rejected the claim of the confessed sex offender, and

former chief counsel to NYS Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver, that

the State pay his legal fees in a suit by a former Assembly staffer,

who claims Boxley raped her.   According to an AP/Newsday report

(March 4, 2005):

Supreme Court Justice James Canfield ruled against Boxley,

saying “there is no question but that the criminal activity

that petitioner has either already admitted or is accused of

constitutes a substantial departure from the duties of

public employment.”

So far, no comment from the usually chatty counsel for Boxley.

 

• 
  
  
  

  A final point: The one-year suspension of Boxley’s law

  
  

  license seems rather lenient to me.  I wonder what

  
  

  Carolyn thinks? 

                                                                                                       original of The Gates in full color 

Q: next best thing to visiting The Gates in person in Central Park?

A: send your twin brother with a camera and then borrow haiku from George Swede!

Click the links with each black & white image to see the original photo

– by Arthur J. Giacalone (all rights reserved; to enlarge, click the button in the lower righthand corner of each photo). [update: find three Giacalone haiga (pictures with linked haiku) using photos from The Gates at Simply Haiku Journal, Modern Haiga, Vol. 5 no. 1 (Spring 2007)]

original in full color

The old wind chimes
in the basement for winter
tinkle from my sigh

original in full color

coldest day of the year

the lone skater laps

his breath

original in full color

traffic tie-up
a fisherman on the bridge
casts a long line

George Swede –

“the old wind chimes” & “traffic tie-up” from The Heron’s Nest

“coldest day of the year” from Almost Unseen

saffron flags

above and below the bridge —

duck feet au courant

dagosan

original in full color

the runner’s vest

blends in  —

through The Gates of central park

dagosan

[March 4, 2005]

original in full color

potluck

The guys at Legal Ethics Forum have it right: BigLaw partners have

a lot to learn from Generation Y’s values and priorities.  Sure hope the NYC Y’ers got

to see The Gates (more than once).  (see Law.com article)  Maybe Prof. Schiltz’s Sermon

is working.

A few lines from Dononvan Leitch’s “Mellow Yellow“

I’m just mad about Saffron
Saffron’s mad about me
I’m just mad about Saffron
She’s just mad about me

p.s. Don’t miss Monica Bay’s ode to orange.

original in full color 

                                                                                                                                       

Political insiders believe the unusually high number of responses was the result of voting by

operative bloggers from both the left and right.

 

Freeman Publisher Ira Fusfeld said that, in the past, local readers generally have participated

honestly in the polls and enabled the system to gauge public opinion accurately. . .  .

 

Fusfeld said the level of participation in the Hinchey poll is telling.  “What’s sad is that in

today’s political climate, even a poll as relatively benign as this one became the subject of a

tug of war between the left and right, both of which thought this was so important that they

couldn’t let the other side ‘win,'” Fusfeld said.

  Hinchey’s aide Dan Ahouse wrote to several webloggers asking them to get

“I’m writing to ask for your help in stopping this manipulation of public

opinion about our Congressman.  Please forward this information to

anyone interested in standing up to the right-wing distortion and ask

they they register their opinion in the poll.”

  

 

 

a new year begins–
nonsense
piled on nonsense

 

naughty child–
instead of his chores
a snow Buddha

 

Kobayashi Issa translated by David G. Lanoue   

In the spirit of ethicalEsq, let’s give a tip of the hat to Hon. Loretta A. Preska, US Dist. Ct. Judge, 

SDNY, for her excellent performance cutting fees in the Bristol-Myers Squibb Securities Litigation,

03-2251. (details here, NYLaw Journal, “Judge Halves Fees Sought,” Feb. 28, 2005; see Olson)

 

  Hon. Loretta A. Preska

orig. photo and bio here

 

In slicing a request for $22 million in fees to about $12 million (from two firms with too many names to

repeat), Judge Preska helped clarify for other judges — and maybe even for plaintiffs’ lawyers — the

factors that need to be considered when counsel want to be paid a percentage of their clients’

winnings.  Here, lead counsel wanted about 7.5% of the settlement payout.  In the decision, Judge

Preska told them why they hadn’t earned that much (per NYLJ), pointing out:

• 
  
  
  

  “[I]t is not thirty times more difficult to settle a thirty million dollar case as it is to settle a one

  
  

  million dollar case,”
  
  
• 
  
  
  

  The case “fell along the low end of the continuum of risks” for the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
  
  
• 
  
  
  

  “Lead counsel merely drafted complaints setting out roughly chronologically the material
  

  in the public record and alleging Defendant’s knowledge and scienter.”
  
  
• 
  
  
  

  
  

  The situation “suggests that it was the Company’s desire, prompted by the SEC, to put its
  

  house in order that caused the settlement, not any action on the part of Lead Counsel” —

  
  

  and, the attorneys benefited from the existence of an SEC action based on similar facts.

  Preska joins my short list of judicial heroes willing to police unreasonable fees (which includes

NYS justice Charles E. Ramos).   I nonetheless wonder what — other than self-aggrandizement and

delusions of entitlement — would make the lawyers involved here believe they deserve to take from

their clients even the lesser amount granted of $12 million. 

“tinyredcheck”   I also wonder whether any of the thousands of Main Street p/i lawyers who

charge a standard contingency fee to the average injured client are paying any

attention.    They ignore ABA Ethics Opinion 94-389;  they ignore the lip-service

given by trial lawyer associations to the requirement that contingency fees be  

based on “risk, cost and effort-required;” and they even ignore the preaching

of Prof. Brickman and ethicalEsq.  If only we could clone Judge Preska, and 

have her reviewing contingency fee agreements across the land.  A guy can

dream.

 

into the night
we talk of human cloning
snowflakes

 

 

winter solstice

our son reads a fairy tale

to his unborn son

 

 

Still at the edge
of its shadow—
the frog

 

 

Peggy Lyles,

from To Hear the Rain (Brooks Books, 2002)

 

 

 

 

the highest pass…
the grasshopper’s cadence
outpaces the cyclist

 

 

 

 

 

 

thunderstorm
an old woman mops her step
before the rain stops 

 

 

 

mid-life crisis
raking up leaves
in the wind

 

 

MATT MORDEN  from Haiku Canada Newsletter

Vol XVIII Feb 2005 No.1

 

 

• 
  
  by dagosan:  

setting a timer

to remember

to set the timer

 

 

first sunny day

in March —

her first smile this month

                           [March 3, 2005]

Reminding us about Watergate, J. Craig Williams took a look yesterday at the attorney-client

privilege between government officials and government attorneys, noting:

“Seems to me the Courts are asking the wrong question. Who is the government

attorney responsibile to? Who’s the client here? The citizens or the government

official?”

Although ABA’s Model Rule 1.6 does not address the topic, the D.C.’s Rule 1.6 (j) says “The

client of the government lawyer is the agency that employs the lawyer unless expressly provided

to the contrary by appropriate law, regulation, or order.”   As I commented at Craig’s place, that

tends to mean that discussions by agency officials with agency lawyers about agency business

are deemed to be within the attorney-client privilege.   Until a rule can be devised and adopted that

somehow factors in the public’s interests, perhaps government lawyers need to be better trained to

know when to say, “this topic should be taken up with your own private lawyer.”  Click here for a

thoughtful, balanced article that appeared in Washington State Bar’s Bar News (Sept. 2004). 

Discussion by the guys at the Legal Ethics Forum on this one would be much appreciated. 

 

 

  Mike Cernovich, a/k/a Fed84, asserts that prosecutors should be kept out of the

Trial Lawyers College.  I’ve opined at C&F to the contrary.  (By the way, Mike told us he agrees

“that both should be allowed in each other’s tax-supported courses.”)

 

 

“witchbrewS”  The website of an otherwise obscure newspaper in the MidHudson region of New York —

Kingston’s Daily Freeman — has had a lot of uninvited visitors this week.  Its publisher, Ira Fusfeld,

is a weekly contributor to the Round Table, a show on public radio WAMC, based in Albany, NY. 

This morning, Fusfeld bemoaned the uproar caused by an innocent Reader Poll question, based on

this news story, which asked :

Do you agree with Rep. Maurice Hinchey’s theory that Bush adviser Karl Rove

set up CBS News anchorman Dan Rather? 

According to Fusfeld, the Hinchey story and the Poll got picked up by webloggers and things got out

of hand.  The survey was so swamped, that the following disclaimer (never needed before) was added

to the poll box: “Note: As with all of our polls, results are unscientific and, unfortunately, may be victim

of “ballot box stuffing” by both sides.”  Fusfeld finds it hard to believe (or, perhaps, just sad) that the 

blogosphere is filled with so many people who must make sure their side wins this very unscientific poll

on a fairly unimportant topic.  Welcome, Ira, to the world of the highly partisan and ideological — where

there is little adult supervision or participation.   [As of 11:30 AM today, 59.4% agree with Hinchey.] 

Find web coverage, e.g., there, here, here, here, there and there.

• 
  
  
  

  Criticized for floating his pure speculation about Rove, Rep. Hinchey replied:  “OilCanHFs”

  
  

  “I have a responsibility to report (my theories) to my constituents and

  
  

  tell them conclusions or ideas that I am working on or believe based upon

  
  

  my analysis and interpretation of the facts.”  He’d make a great weblogger! 

 

by dagosan: 

charming the pretty

bookstore clerk — one more

skill learned too late

 

winter wind —

i’m tired,

why aren’t you?

                           [March 3, 2005]

Carolyn Elefant at MyShingle has been raising a lot of good issues lately.  To keep it

interesting, I don’t always agree.  Here’s a pair:

 

“witchbrewS”  Concur:  Lawyers should not be putting clauses in retainers that require a client

to go to arbitration prior to filing a grievance, or otherwise intimidate clients from filing 

grievances — as former Hawaiian judge Richard Lee did.  I think Carolyn put it well:

“The only lesson here is that if you think Lee’s retainer agreement

is appropriate, then you should probably leave the legal profession

now, while you can do so voluntarily – because with judgment like

that, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be ordered to go.”

Sadly, I expect any time now to see a Comment at her site saying, “But other

people can use Arbitration-First clauses, why can’t lawyers?”  If you have to

ask, you need to find another career.

 

“witchbrewSF” Dissent in Part:  I have often agreed with Carolyn that the legal profession

needs more mentoring.  She has a rave review for a new 10-Minute Mentor program of

online videos, sponsored by the Texas Young Lawyers Association.  TYLA’s

press release (Feb. 25, 2005) states:

“This online mentoring effort is unique in its range and depth. For months,

a film crew criss-crossed the state to tape the first wave of more than 60

video lectures by luminaries . . . When the website officially launches March 1,

nearly 100 presentations will be available at the click of a mouse.”

 

[F]razzled lawyers can reclaim some of their vanishing access to mentors

whenever and where ever they can find the time. . . .

Frankly, this sounds like a very expensive way to create mini-CLE courses online. 

It has little to do with our need for true “mentors.”  How would these folks solve

America’s need for hands-on parenting?  Talking Daddy and Mommy dolls?

 

I was a bit surprised to see my schmittle italy post linked by the

Free Money Resournces Blog.  Even without emoticons, I hope it’s clear that I was

complaining about Metroplex giving away money too freely here in Schenectady, not

hoping to attract more seekers.  

 

  Noticing that 62% of Americans still do not know what a “blog” is, Lisa Stone asks whether 

the Law.com Blog Network needs a better name.  If you know the f/k/a gang, you know we want to

“put the ‘we’ back in blogging,”  and always like seeing the word “blog” junked.  Lisa would love to have

your suggestions for a new Network name.

 

   We might not change a lot of lawyer behavior, but we are effective once in awhile on

far less significant topics.  For example: see the deletion of the word “snarky” here.  Of course, it

should not be surprising that recently-designated lawyer-poet George Wallace would be susceptible

to pleas to save our mother tongue. 

 

  This report from Tim Chinaris at sunEthics sounds right to me: “Lawyer Sanctioned for Failing to Inform

Appellate Court that Matter Had Been Settled.”  The lawyer had been serving as guardian for a VA ward

and the case involved his own alleged overpayment to himself.  sunEthics summarizes:

[T]he parties to an appeal may not, by means of a private agreement among themselves,

keep the case pending and prevent its dismissal on grounds of mootness in order to obtain what

amounts to an advisory opinion. 

 

Apparently concerned about what it described as the lawyer’s posture of defiance rather than contrition, the court imposed the following sanctions:  a $500 fine; personal payment of costs relating to the commissioner’s inquiry; and at least 15 CLE hours in appellate practice and procedure within the

next year (over and above the usual CLE requirements).  Merkle v. Guardianship of Jacoby.

 

two haiku from paul m, from the newest Heron’s Nest:

waiting for the heron

to turn my way —

winter rain

morning glories

what is left

of the rain

and a bonus from The Heron’s Nest (2000):

cold sky

a trolley headlight

cresting the hill

paul m. from The Heron’s Nest

“waiting for the heron; “morning glories;” “cold sky”

Please stop by later today for dagosan and potluck.

 

The posting of a new edition of The Heron’s Nest is always a treat for me, but

that is especially so in 2005, because THN is now a quarterly rather than a monthly.

 

  This edition is also special because the THN Award goes this time to our

frequent Honored Guest, Carolyn Hall, for the following haiku (don’t miss

editor Christopher Herold’s insightful Commentary):

 

 

 

so suddenly winter
baby teeth at the bottom
of the button jar

 

 

There’s another winner by Carolyn

in this edition:

 

 

laughter
in a foreign tongue
summer stars

 

 

 

Carolyn Hall from The Heron’s Nest VII: 1 (March 2005)

“so suddenly winter” “laughter“ 

 

 

 

Along with ten webpages filled with great haiku, this edition has a 

special section in tribute to the beloved and recently deceased haijin ,

Elizabeth Searle Lamb.   At the other end of the haiku-writing spectrum,

I noticed a pair of haiku from a poet who has apparently never before

appeared in a haiku journal.  Let’s give him a vote of encouragement:

 

 

 

 

alone —
hugging
warm laundry

 

 

new paperback —
the sun sets
without me

 

 

david giacalone, schenectady, ny

“alone”   “new paperback“

 

 

by dagosan:  

 

 

path to the river —

“fresh scent” wafts

from the dryer vent

 

  not moving to Moscow:

 

 

 

he calls two inches

eight —

embarrassed weather man

 

                               [March 1, 2005]

 

  Lifespan Conundrums: Interesting juxtaposition last night on the PBS NewsHour (Feb. 28, 2005): 

a piece on saving Social Security from the destiny of our demographics was followed by The Science

of Aging 9 (audio), on the link between genetics and aging.  David A. Sinclair of the Harvard Medical

School was lauded last year by webloggers such as Steve Bainbridge and George Wallace, when he

released a study saying that his team had discovered a protein (found in wine) that appeared to prolong

life without dieting.   Along with the question of insurance coverage for lifestyle drugs, add the

complications concerning whether to promote and later cover medicines that will significantly expand lifespan.   

As the PBS interviews suggested, some discoveries may lead to ways to extend healthy lifespan and others

in ways to extend total lifespan.  Anybody want to crunch some numbers or juggle values for us? 

• Should this be a marketplace decision or a societal one?

 

  Microsoft WordGames:  The competition-antitrust folk at the European Union are not at all amused by

Microsoft’s grudging attempts to comply with the order to sell a version of Windows for the European market

that does not include Microsoft’s Media Player software program.  For example, Bill Gates’ guys allegedly

wanted to saddle the unbundled version with the less-than-desirable name “Reduced Media.”   More

important, as the International Herald Tribune reported (Feb. 26, 2005):

The new version of Windows . . . tells users in an on-screen message that the

software will not work properly, a person close to the commission’s competition

department said.

.

“The message effectively tells users that they have bought a duff product,” this person

said on condition of anonymity. “They will have to change it,” he added, referring to

the message.