Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

In the Google vs. Microsoft saga, the New York Times gets it wrong, again.

“Microsoft finds legal defender in Justice Department,” the “newspaper of record” headlines. How so? NYT logic infers that if courts of law, or their agents, render judgement in Google vs. Microsoft disputes which reject Google anti-Microsoft arguments, that signifies the legal system is “defending” Microsoft.

But, if a court of law were to render judgement in a Microsoft vs. Google dispute that would reject a Microsoft anti-Google argument, would that then mean that the legal system is defending Google? Of course not, in both scenarios.

As the NYT is well aware, courts serve as neutral mediatiors of legal issues in defense of the law, not in defense of indivdual parties. Legal decisions do not mean the court favors one party over the other, or that it takes the side of a particular company. If a court rules in Microsoft’s favor, or Google’s, it means the law was on their respective side, not the court.

In a (not atypical) vague NYT story based on unnamed sources and non-public, “confidential,” non-sourced documents, sweeping assertions as to facts and motivations are represented, involving apparently numerous (but generally “off the record,” anonymous parties: state attorneys general, state officials, lawyers, federal prosecutors…

What’s more, the NYT gets the technology part of the equation wrong. According to the NYT:

The battlefront among technology companies has shifted from computer desktop software, a category that Microsoft dominates, to Internet search and Web-based software programs that allow users to bypass products made by Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker.

The claim that “Web-based software programs allow users to bypass products made by Microsoft” is fundamentally flawed.

In the Google Cloud future vs. the Microsoft Desktop legacy battle, Google has a vested interest in touting the “future of software delivery is the browser.“ BUT, the browser is still accessed via the desktop, the laptop…which are run by operating systems. Usually, those operating systems are supplied by Microsoft, often pre-loaded.

In any event, if there is a Google vs. Microsoft case, it should be tried in the courts, not in the New York Times.

ALSO: Google vs. Microsoft the Monopolist: 0 for 2 and Google: The Great Intimidator

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