No pardon for Microsoft, Sun chief urges Bush

Did he hear something we didn't?

George W Bush's interesting collection of IT supporters showed signs of fissure yesterday as Sun boss Scott McNealy - not anything like as liberal as he looks - raved that Microsoft was guilty, a monopoly, and certainly didn't qualify for any kind of pardon.

Speaking at a National Press Club lunch in Washington McNealy urged the new Bush Department of Justice to carry on fighting the case. Obviously it is carrying on fighting the case, and will be back in court for the appeal later this month, but Scottie clearly wants to discourage any possibility of backsliding.

Microsoft itself seems to have been not entirely surprised by Scottie's outburst, but that's not exactly surprising. Sun has done of a lot of behind the scenes and not so behind the scenes work on the Microsoft antitrust front, and more recently arranged plan B by triggering the European investigation.

The Bush camp as a whole might well be less inclined than the last lot to string Bill and his merry men up, but it'll have Scott to deal with if it does let the matter slide too obviously. Will that make any difference? Eye-witnesses report that McNealy was looking red-faced and frustrated, and this may indicate that he's perhaps failing to catch the mood of the new administration... ®