Do I smell a deal in the offing? Either that, or the U.S. Justice Department just wasted the better part of the last three years and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, and unnecessarily helped spook millions of tech investors into early hibernation. On the morrow of the announcement, some legal watchers are hailing it as a brilliant maneuver to clear the way to get a quicker remedy. Not to my way of thinking. The DOJ says it no longer wants to break up the company or seek a rehearing on the tying claim that Microsoft illegally integrated its Web browser with the operating system. Then what was the point of the last three years of litigation? With the case about to land in the hands of District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the government and the states participating in the antitrust case are betting on winning a conduct remedy, which is about all that it could have ever received anyway.
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