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Strategies & Market Trends : Graham and Doddsville -- Value Investing In The New Era

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To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (321)	5/16/1998 7:07:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Read Replies (2) of 1722

Microsoft talks collapse, antitrust lawsuit likely By James Vicini WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - Talks collapsed on Saturday between Microsoft Corp. (MSFT - news) and government officials, making likely the filing of a big antitrust suit against the software giant on Monday. Representatives of the U.S. Justice Department and 20 states held two days of talks in Washington in a bid to explore whether a settlment could be reached to avoid a lawsuit. ''It appears that it's over,'' for a negotiated settlement, said a source close to the state attorneys general. ''It looks very likely that the state attorneys general will file on Monday,'' he added. The Justice Department confirmed in a brief statement that the talks were over. ''At this point they are not expected to resume,'' it said. Federal and state governments had been poised to file antitrust suits on Thursday but agreed to talks in return for Microsoft agreeing to delay Friday's shipment of its Windows 98 operating system to computer makers until Monday. Public release of the updated version of the enormously popular Windows 95 software is scheduled for June 25. A Microsoft spokesman said the company had worked hard to make the negotiations succeed because the company believed a lawsuit would be bad for consumers, taxpayers and whole high-tech industry. ''We've made a number of significant offers to address the government issues but the government is making unreasonble demands that would threaten our product design and our ability to innovate,'' company spokesman Greg Shaw said. ''We're still willing to negotiate further but we cannot agree to the governments' uneasonable demands,'' he said. The states and the Justice Department have readied a major complaint accusing Microsoft of abusing its power and driving competitors from the lucrative software market. Microsoft's critics charge it has unfairly competed by incorporating more and more featurers into its Windows operating systems and using its dominance to dissuade computer makers from removing its screen icons and products. But the company says it is giving consumers the best operating systems possible by integrating features like its Microsoft Explorer web browser into Windows 98. The source close to the states said the talks ended when Microsoft withdrew a major concession it had offered on Thursday to allow computer makers to modify the startup screen consumers see when they switch on their computer for the first time. ''They (Microsoft) walked away from the discussion,'' the source said. But Microsoft's Shaw said state and federal lawyers had wanted to force computer makers to ship Windows 98 with a rival Internet browser made by Netscape Communications Corp. (NSCP - news), among other unreasonable demands. ''Which would be a lot like asking Coca-Cola to ship three Pepsis with every sixpack,'' Shaw said.

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