Microsoft Accused of Trying To Get Away with Murder.

Late Tuesday the unappeased states rushed breathlessly into court with the news that they had made the horrifying discovery that Microsoft was actually benefiting from its settlement with the Justice Department.

They said that they hadn't intended to try to horn in on the Tunney review proceeding that's scheduled to be held in a few days, but this was just, well, this was just over the top.

Microsoft had taken advantage of the settlement's stipulation that it make the terms of the contracts with its 20 top OEMs uniform to tighten up on the IP provision that varied from one deal to another and went with the terms it liked the best but couldn't always get, ones that sheltered it from getting sued by its OEMs for treading on their patents.

Well, really, what would anyone expect? Nobody said Microsoft couldn't. One can imagine this happening with terms the states want to impose. It's hard to see that many jumps ahead on the chessboard.

Though this kind of thing isn't, like, against the law - and actually one has to sit back and chuckle in admiration - the states made like a straight-laced old maiden lady who had just heard the workmen use bad language. Microsoft has used the settlement, they told the court, as a "sword to extract valuable concessions" out of the vendors.

Of course, as near as we can figure out from the documentation the states presented, it appears the market was already taking care of itself as markets do ...