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Welcome
to REASON Express, the weekly e-newsletter from REASON magazine. REASON
Express is written by Washington-based journalist Jeff A. Taylor and draws
on the ideas and resources of the REASON editorial staff. For more
information on REASON, visit our Web site at www.reason.com.
Send your comments about REASON Express to Jeff A. Taylor (jtaylor@reason.com)
and REASON Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie (gillespie@reason.com).
REASON Express
July 3, 2001
Vol. 4 No. 27
1) Microsoft Wins--And Loses
2) Stem Cell Decision Near
3) Play Time?
4) Quick Hits
- - Fail, Abort, Retry - -
Contrary to the sound of backslapping coming from Redmond, Microsoft came
out only slightly better than Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson in the Appeals
Court decision. The software maker is now officially a monopolist, one
that
illegally sticks extraneous things into its operating systems.
That portends all kinds of long-term problems for Microsoft and the
software
world in general. It means that judges and lawyers will continue to try to
design software after the fact and, perhaps, before the fact.
Like Judge Jackson, the Appeals Court judges plainly were bamboozled into
thinking that Navigator and Java together represented some kind of
"platform"
that threatened Windows. They did not. Java is a really neat programming
language, not an operating system, and Netscape never really knew how it
was
going to make long-term money with a browser. But future cases will build
on
the court's tech handicap, nonetheless.
And it won't just be Microsoft in the crosshairs. Any big tech player can
be a
target. Just start with a fanciful business plan, watch it implode, file a
lawsuit, and win a large cash settlement by convincing a judge that your
nifty
new technology only failed because you were crushed by a greedy
monopolist.
In the near term Microsoft is treating the removal of an immediate
break-up
threat as a big win in order to bluff the Justice Department into a quick
settlement. DOJ should do just that. Clearing the decks of the Microsoft
case
via a few prohibitions on future business practices is the best thing
Attorney
General John Ashcroft could do for his department. Lump in some fines and
let
the lawyers declare their victory, too.
That will be hard as the state attorneys general are already agitating to
assault Microsoft over the components of Windows XP. They may well go
ahead on
their own. Private lawsuits are also in the offing. The saga of Microsoft
vs.
the lawyers isn't over yet.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.
asp?guid=%7B0B8D8A8A%2DE8C1%2
D450B%2D8A3
0%2D57539EDCEED0%7D&siteid=mktw
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar
ticles/A64492-2001Jun29.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/bu
siness/micro/appeals/appeals1_062801.htm
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/bus
inesstechnology/134312065_micrxp29.html
****************************************************
- - Stemming Problem - -
President Bush's looming decision on stem-cell research has made some of
the
old battle lines a little blurry. Quite a few anti-abortion players now
count
themselves on the pro-stem cell side.
"Stem-cell research facilitates life. Abortion destroys life; this is
about
saving lives," is the way Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) spins his
support for
the research.
That is in direct opposition to the position taken by some Catholic groups
and
other anti-abortion activists.
They hold that any use of cells taken from embryos takes a human life.
"Destroying an embryo in the lab is morally the same as abortion in
Catholic
teaching," says Richard Doerflinger, an official with the National
Conference
of Catholic Bishops.
That view has White House political adviser Karl Rove transfixed. Ignore
it,
Rove fears, and millions of Catholic votes that Dubya must have for a
second
term are history.
But it doesn't follow that all Catholics view the issue the same way, let
alone are ready to make it a voting issue. More likely they'll follow the
path
of former Florida Senator Connie Mack (R), a Catholic who supports
stem-cell
research. Mack is also a cancer survivor, from a family of cancer victims.
He weighed the pros and cons and the moral dilemmas, and arrived at his
own
decision. Others can do the same, but the outcome won't be the same. One
monolithic "Catholic" position on this issue is unlikely. Rove
needs to
realize this before he backs Bush into a corner he doesn't have to be in.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn
/articles/A6571-2001Jul1.html
***************************************************
- - Child's Play - -
The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) explores the question
that occurs to any adult wandering through a nearly abandoned park: Where
are all the kids? While numbers for organized youth sports--especially
soccer--are up,
general participation in team sports among children six years old and
older is
down.
"The only real conclusion is that pickup play is declining,"
says Gregg
Hartley, SGMA vice president.
The neighborhood pickup game, be it baseball, football, basketball, or
same
strange amalgam of them all, was once an after school and summertime
staple.
The lack of strict adult supervision meant that some values--like fair
play--had to be spontaneously discovered and reinforced. It just isn't
very much fun to have all the big kids on one team, for example.
"Pickup games are a really important part of the socialization
process of young males--and all kids," says Stuart Brown, head of the
Institute for Play in Carmel Valley, Calif. Such games teach kids how to
"choose up sides, change the rules if you have to, and deal with a
group dynamic when parents are not there."
But today parents seem to have a morbid fear of not being there. Whether
caused by local news reports that make it seem as if every sidewalk is
full of stalkers, or by a misplaced desire to bring order to the necessary
chaos of raising kids, free, wanton play gets squeezed away.
Paradoxically, play is serious business and the less seriously scripted
the
play, the better for the kids.
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/20
01/06/27/fpcon-pone.shtml
**************************************************
QUICK HITS
- - Quote of the Week - -
"If they are going to argue that stem cells produced this way are
potential babies, then they should worry about showering since the skin
cells that go down the drain are also potential babies." Dr. Anthony
Atala, a surgeon at Harvard University's Children's Hospital, on moves in
Congress to criminalize embryonic stem cell research by banning
therapeutic cloning.
REASON science correspondent Ronald Bailey reports from the annual
convention
of the Biotechnology Industry Organization at
http://reason.com/rb/rb062901.html#27
- - You Might Be a Public School Administrator - -
Tom Sypniewski Jr. has filed a federal lawsuit over being sent home from
high
school for wearing a "Top 10 Reasons You Might Be a Redneck Sports
Fan"
T-shirt. The school district said the word "redneck" constituted
harassment of
black students.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20
010626-90185982.htm
- - A Winning Slogan - -
South Carolina Republican Party chief Henry McMaster told a group at the
Boys'
State leadership camp that "Republicans are for cold beer and hot
girls." Mothers Against Drunk Driving was not amused.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933
,28189,00.html
- - Half-wise Guy - -
The very connected Gambino crime family meets its match in someone even
more adept at working the fringes of the law: Roger Clinton.
http://www.nypostonline.com/news/region
alnews/33766.htm
- - Blue Light Special - -
Germany abolished Hitler-era laws that limited store discounts and banned
"buy
two, get one free" offers. International and Internet retailers are
credited
with spurring the change.
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/0106
29/10/germany-discounts
#################################
REASON NEWS
The Scene! Check out REASON Editor-at-Large Virginia Postrel's frequently
updated observations on current events and ideas. Visit The Scene at http://www.dynamist.com/scene.html
For the latest on media appearances by REASON writers, visit
http://www.reason.com/press.html.
#################################
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