“The collapse of the Microsoft mediation talks over the
weekend has rapidly turned into a major whodunnit. Microsoft,
splits in the government camp, even saboteurs from the states have
all been blamed, and the stories are already being spun in several
directions.”
“Anonymous sources speaking to AP yesterday claimed that the
talks failed because Microsoft was determined to push through its
own proposal, and rejecting the government one. These sources also
insist that the talks didn’t collapse because of splits between the
DoJ and the states, so they’re clearly spinning from somewhere in
the government camp. Meanwhile, on the record in several places we
have Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal, insisting
that the differences between the DoJ and the states were minimal
compared to those between the government and Microsoft.”
“So the spinning so far indicates that it was Microsoft
intransigence that sank the talks. But how true is that? An
interesting piece by Joel Brinkley in today’s New York Times
pitches it rather differently: “Over the weekend, an official
allied with the states complained that the Justice Department had
been trying to ram through an inadequate settlement proposal
without bothering to involve them. But a lawyer who was close to
the talks had a different point of view, saying the states were
‘trying to snatch credit for sinking the talks’ in part because
‘they’re tired of being in the back seat.'””