Bill Neukom
11/24/98
AM Statement at Court
Good Morning, AOL, Netscape, Sun deal just announced this morning apparently, shows how the competitive landscape in our industry can change overnight, making government regulation of this high technology industry completely unnecessary, and frankly counter-productive for the businesses in the industry and the consumers that we serve.
The government’s case was groundless from the outset. This deal announced this morning drives home the central point that the marketplace can take much better care of consumers than can a government seeking to regulate high technology.
As we saw in the IBM case that dragged through the 70s and into the 80s, advances in technology always move much faster than can the government. The marketplace is always five steps ahead of government regulators.
The government ought to drop this case now. They ought to stop wasting taxpayer dollars. And ought to let this industry compete vigorously on the basis of technology and customer service
