Re: DOJ shifts tactics in MS trial

[Dan Strychalski <dski@cameonet.cameo.com.tw>]

John D. Thomas (johnd@gw2kbbs.com) wrote --

>Possibly good news on the MS front.
>
>http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/zdnn_lggraph_display/0,3442,2122954,00.html

For the benefit of those whose e-mail programs treat e-mail as e-mail and
not as Web-style hypertext, I am posting the body of the article referred
to above.

   DOJ shifts tactics in MS trial
   By Michael Moeller [1], PC Week Online [2]
   July 27, 1998 11:42 AM PT

   With some six weeks to go before they face off against Microsoft Corp.
   in court, federal and state attorneys are racing to shore up their
   combined case with last-minute depositions and discovery.

   The Department of Justice and the state attorneys general will not try
   to prove that the Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT [3])
   engaged in illegally tying two products, according to sources inside
   state attorneys general offices and the DOJ.

   ZDNN Special: Hatch calls for more hearings [4]

   Instead, the government will try to show that Microsoft's integration
   of Internet Explorer into Windows, combined with its exclusionary
   contracts with ISPs (Internet service providers) and PC makers, were
   part of a coordinated effort to destroy any encroachment on its
   operating system hegemony.

   'Grand strategy'

   "The integration of the browser was not about tying but was part of a
   grand strategy to preserve their monopoly. The contracts with ISPs and
   OEMs are just to cement that strategy," said a high-level source
   inside one state attorney general's office.

   Sources added that new documents that Microsoft recently turned over
   to the government may provide further evidence of such a strategy.

   Government lawyers have recently deposed a number of Microsoft
   employees, including CEO Bill Gates, sources said.

   Microsoft officials declined to comment on the depositions or
   documents.

   The moves by the states and the DOJ come after the states [5] filed
   an amended complaint last week that removed alleged anticompetitive
   actions concerning Office and Outlook Express from their list of
   charges against Microsoft.

   One month only

   The reason, according to government officials, was to focus their
   efforts on the main issue of the case. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson,
   who will hear the case, has limited both sides to a dozen witnesses
   and has said he plans to spend only a month hearing the case.

   Despite those parameters, the government continues to investigate
   other Microsoft actions not currently included in the antitrust
   complaint. One area is streaming media technology; on Thursday,
   RealNetworks Inc. CEO Rob Glaser told the Senate Judiciary Committee
   [6] he had been deposed by the DOJ.

   The Justice Department declined to comment on its investigation.

   Copyright (c) 1998 ZDNet [7]. All rights reserved. Reproduction
   in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
   permission of ZDNet is prohibited. ZDNet and the ZDNet logo are
   trademarks of Ziff-Davis Inc.

   [1] <mailto:michael_moeller@zd.com>
   [2] <http://www.pcweek.com/>
   [3] <http://www.zdii.com/industry_list_new.asp?mode=news&ticker=msft>
   [4] <http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/mshatch.html>
   [5] <http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0713/17eoff.html>
   [6] <http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0720/23ahatch.html>
   [7] <http://www.zdnet.com/>

Dan Strychalski                               dski@cameonet.cameo.com.tw