To hear the voice of the new, re-formed Microsoft, the one that no longer acts like a bullying monopolist but like a responsible industry leader devoted to the public good, talk to Brad Smith, its general counsel. The bad old days, when Microsoft and the rest of the industry were "clobbering each other", are over, he says. Microsoft has decided to grow up, make peace with its enemies and work with its industry to form open standards and share vital technology. How enlightened. Mr Smith's claims may even be true. In April, Microsoft called a truce with Sun Microsystems, its arch enemy for more than a decade, and announced that the two would settle their pending litigation and make their software work together. Two weeks later, Microsoft made peace again, this time with Inter-Trust Technologies, another companythat had been at war with Microsoft over contested technology patents.
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