At the height of the US government's antitrust pursuit of Microsoft, Bill Gates and his execs were vigorously denouncing rivals Sun Microsystems and Oracle for using the Feds to try to cripple the world's largest software company. For a while, it sounded like Gates was channelling capitalist doyenne Ayn Rand, saying in 1998 that the technology industry's successes were due to lack of interference from Uncle Sam, and claiming that "the government is still trying to slow Microsoft down." Microsoft even launched a Web site, FreeToInnovate.com, where you could send a note to your member of Congress, sign up for a get-your-hands-off-our-software newsletter or order "Freedom to Innovate" ceramic mugs and T-shirts. Well, that was then. Now Microsoft has given new marching orders to its phalanx of lobbyists: use the government to seek a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Hypocritical? Perhaps. Randian? Hardly. But all in all, entirely unsurprising. While the old Microsoft would have been appalled, this is becoming the standard way of doing business in Washington for the new Microsoft. In fact, though Microsoft may learn slowly, it learns its lessons exceedingly well. Some background: Microsoft and large Web site operators like Yahoo, Amazon.com and eBay have been trying to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to impose additional regulations on the cable industry. They're waving the marketing slogan of "Net neutrality" and warning that the cable companies could start to favour some Web sites over others or even block access entirely. Be sceptical of this flimsy claim. There is no evidence that any company offering cable modem access does this -- or, for that matter, ever will. At the very least, the prospective wrongdoer should become a real threat before the FCC gets involved. Paul Rodriguez of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association says cable companies won't play favourites, and correctly points out that if consumers suddenly found out that they couldn't visit certain sites, they'd dump their cable modems in a millisecond. That's Microsoft's free market at work -- right? All this might be just a standard inside-the-beltway political spat except for one odd point: so far, Microsoft is unwilling to defend its position publicly. Privately, its lobbyists have never been busier. Microsoft lobbyist Paula Boyd met with Jonathan Cody, FCC chairman Michael Powell's special policy advisor, to talk about this topic on 4 June, according to disclosure documents on lobbying. Last week, Microsoft strategist Pierre De Vries and Microsoft attorney Scott Blake Harris (the FCC's former international bureau chief) met with FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. Craig Mundie, Microsoft's senior vice president, has met with Powell personally. And those are just a few examples.