The Helping Hand program from MSFT--
Does the govt antitrust case against MSFT accomplish anything? Did the Starr investigation of Clinton accomplish anything?
Aside from interesting tidbits on a personal level (both Gates and Clinton seem to view English/truth/honesty as a foreign language, but maybe that's what the real world and power are supposed to teach us, and anyone who can't learn reality-speak is severely handicapped), are there any stock market lessons to be learned?
For Personal Use Only
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dailynews.yahoo.com
Friday December 11, 1998 10:09 AM ET
Sun engineer says Microsoft had ''knife in hand''
By David Lawsky
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Sun Microsystems engineer testified on Thursday that any offers
of support from Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) came with a ''knife in the hand'' and Sun
was expected to grab the blade.
The Justice Department and 19 states have put Sun Microsystems engineer James Gosling on the
witness stand in an effort to show that Microsoft undermined a Sun programming language known as
Java.
''Our view was that when Microsoft was holding out their hand there was a knife in the hand and
they were expecting us to grab the blade,'' Gosling said in his testimony.
The government's wider point in the antitrust case is that Microsoft has moved illegally to sabotage
any technology that might challenge its monopoly in the operating system for personal computers.
Sun is one of several companies the government has used to support its case, along with chip-maker
Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news), Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) and -- most
prominently -- Netscape Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:NSCP - news)
The government argues that Microsoft competed illegally in the market for Web browsers against
Netscape.
Sun has alleged Microsoft ''polluted'' Java with a special version for Windows. A judge in San Jose,
Calif., last month issued a preliminary injunction against Microsoft in a suit brought by Sun.
On Thursday, Microsoft lawyer Tom Burt used a series of internal Sun e-mails in an attempt to show
that Sun rebuffed Microsoft efforts to co-operate on Java.
But Gosling, in his fourth day of testimony over a two-week period, said that was not his company's
experience.
''We assumed people were being honorable,'' he said. ''I don't think we thought they would do
something that would require us to send a 'nastygram' from a lawyer,'' Gosling said.
Microsoft's Burt showed press releases from Sun that demonstrated it was able to distribute its
version of Java through the Internet.
He asked Gosling if that demonstrated Sun was still able to have an effective channel of distribution.
But Gosling replied, ''This as a channel is absolutely drowned by the fact that the Microsoft Java
(version) is provided with all (Windows) personal computers sold today.''
Separately, Microsoft ran large advertisements on Thursday in several major newspapers headlined,
''Leave it to the Marketplace.''
Those advertisements quoted economists and newspapers opposed to the government antitrust case.
At the lunch break in the trial, a Microsoft spokesman said the ads were necessary to counter news
leaks by the government. Reporters asked the spokesman for specific examples, but he declined to
identify any story that had come from such a leak.
Gosling is the ninth witness of at least 24 and may be on the stand until Monday. The trial is now in its
eighth week.
Earlier Stories
Government uses Microsoft dictionary in lawsuit (December 10)
Microsoft trial debates operating system definition (December 9)
Government lawyer out to destroy Microsoft-Gates (December 8)
Copyright © 1998 Reuters Limited.
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