“A handful of powerful Utahns — including Senator Orrin Hatch
(R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Ray
Noorda, former Novell CEO and president of venture capital firm The
Canopy Group, Provo — have not overlooked who fostered the decline
of their state’s early IT prominence. Without their prodding, the
Microsoft antitrust case and court-ordered breakup might never have
happened.”
“Jim Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape, and Scott McNealy,
CEO of Sun Microsystems (stock: SUNW), are usually credited with
leading the charge against Microsoft. But Noorda and Hatch used
Capitol Hill and state courtrooms early on to air their
feelings about Microsoft’s power, opening the door for the U.S.
Department of Justice to file its case in May 1998.”
“Noorda, at least, had something that Microsoft didn’t:
political connections. He used them, and his own cash, to bring
Microsoft down, sources say. … He was also at least partially
responsible for the first antitrust settlement against Microsoft on
the books. … When the judge ruled three years later that the case
would go to a jury trial, Microsoft, swamped with the federal case,
settled it out of court for $250 million.”