Re: Microsoft faces new charges from U.S.-WSJ

[Milan Zimmermann <mzimmerm@worldchat.com>]

Gene Gaines wrote:
> 
> It's a lovely day.  Springtime.
> 
> And possibly an end to a cold, cruel winter for computing.
> 
> This story was moved on Reuters early this morning.
> 
> Good resources are AP (story at 9:11 a.m.) and the Wall Street Journal.
> See:
>    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/f/AP-Microsoft-Case.html


Cannot get there as it requres a subscription from Canada, but I assume
it is the same as this:

http://206.99.246.6/sitelayout.asp?section=/analytics/analytics.asp?symbol=MSFT

(may have to cut & paste if link longer than a line)

Regards, Milan Zimmermann

> 
> Gene Gaines
> ggaines@generation.net
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> 
> 04:01 AM ET 04/06/98
> 
> Microsoft faces new charges from U.S.-WSJ
> 
>     NEW YORK, April 6 (Reuters) - Justice Department
> investigators believe they have enough evidence to bring a new
> antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. before the end of the
> month, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
>     The new case, if it goes forward, would allege "illegal
> maintenance and extension" of Microsoft's control of
> personal-computer operating software, in violation of the
> Sherman Antitrust Act, the Journal said, citing unnamed people
> close to the probe.
>     It also would repeat an existing charge that Microsoft
> violated a 1995 antitrust settlement by "bundling" Internet
> software with Windows, extending to Windows 98 last fall's
> charge that Microsoft uses Windows as a weapon against business
> rivals, the paper said.
>     The investigators are taking final depositions from senior
> Microsoft officials and issued new civil subpoenas last week to
> major PC makers, including Compaq Computer Corp.
> ,company spokesmen told the paper.
>     They are racing to complete their work before Microsoft's
> planned May 15 release to computer makers of Windows 98, the
> next version of its PC operating software, the Journal said.
>     If the case moves forward, prosecutors are expected to ask
> a federal court here for immediate temporary restrictions on
> Microsoft's practices plus unspecified permanent sanctions, the
> paper said.
>     The temporary restrictions are likely to include a
> requirement that Microsoft give PC makers a choice of whether
> to install Windows 98 with or without Microsoft's Internet
> software, as well as relief from alleged exclusionary contract
> terms imposed on PC makers and companies that provide Internet
> services, the Journal said.
>     Antitrust chief Joel Klein is still weighing legal tactics
> and hasn't yet signed off on filing a new case, the paper said.
> Klein is expected to give Microsoft's lawyers a final
> opportunity to head off new charges against the company in a
> face-to-face meeting late next week.
>     Investigators have obtained important internal Microsoft
> documents that support a broader case against Microsoft, the
> Journal said. One striking example is a confidential 1996
> strategic plan calling for a six-month attack on Netscape
> Communications Corp.'s  lead in Internet software,
> which the plan called "scary."
>     The plan directed managers to gain "exclusive licensing of
> Internet Explorer" to the five largest Internet-service
> providers; these companies are major distribution channels for
> Internet software.
>     "You should be able to break most of Netscape's licensing
> deals and return them to our advantage because our browsers are
> free," the Journal quotes the plan saying. It also called for
> squeezing Netscape sales to corporate buyers by exploiting
> companywide Windows licenses that include the rights to
> Microsoft's Internet software at no additional cost.
>     "We should have absolutely dominant browser share in the
> corporate space," the plan says, according to the Journal.
> "Many of our customers already have a license for Internet
> Explorer but don't know it."
>     Salesmen pitching corporate users, Netscape's largest sales
> channel, "must make it clear that it does not make any sense to
> buy Netscape Navigator."
>     ((New York Newsdesk 212 859-1610))

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