one. One internal AOL E-mail did bolster Warden's argument that AOL intended to take on Microsoft. The Sept. 13 E-mail by AOL's Scott Pearson laid out the "basic strategic rationale" for the deal: "Extend [AOL's] control over the desktop...for the consumer, small business, and enterprise.... Ultimately make the [AOL] and [Netscape] clients, riding on the browser, the effective [operating system] used by most PCs." ButColburn insisted that Pearson wasn't involved deeply in the details and that he was just "playing traffic cop" to make sure that all the pieces of the deal were analyzed. 14 Warden also submitted an internal AOL document from Nov. 3 that described how the company should portray the AOL-Netscape-Sun deal to Wall Street and the press. According to the document, AOL was well aware that the public would perceive the deal as an attempt by AOL to take on Microsoft in hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, the document worked as much against Microsoft as for it, since it notes that the "timing of the acquisition alone could very well end up institutionalizing an Apollo [code-name for AOL] v. Microsoft competition." The document also notes that "our primary purpose in acquiring Odyssey [code-name for Netscape] is not its browser [at least in the short term)]" 15In November of 1999, House Majority Leader Dick Armey made the following comments regarding reports that the Justice Department anti-trust division will take action against Microsoft: "The contemplated anti-trust action against Microsoft is the kind of governmentmicro-management every other nation in the world is rejecting. "This is not about choosing sides in the high tech industry. Such an arbitrary use of unchecked power could send shock waves throughout the economy, as the unprecedented nature of the government's intervention weighs on the mind of every new investor. All entrepreneurs are threatened when the Justice Department launches an a...
