Harvey,
Yes, I read that stuff about the browser business being dead. Overly dramatic I think. On a different but similar note, Microsoft is in hot water with Bristol as well. Today's Yahoo headlines in that regard.
>>>
Microsoft Attempt To Delay Trial Denied
DANBURY, Conn. (Reuters) - A federal judge has denied Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq:MSFT - news)'s request to delay an antitrust trial with small Connecticut software firm Bristol Technology Inc., Bristol said Monday.
U.S. District Court Judge Janet Hall set a June 2 start date, and also ruled that Bristol may share information with lawyers for other antitrust cases pending against Microsoft -- one brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and 19 states, and another by Orem, Utah-based Caldera Inc.
Jury selection for the Bristol trial is slated to start on May 20. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Conn. on August 18 of last year, alleges that Microsoft has stifled competition by controlling access to its Windows NT sourcecode -- a charge that Microsoft hotly disputes.
''The parties appear to have essentially complied with the pretrial order, and the case should be ready for trial in early June,'' Judge Hall said in her ruling.
In a separate ruling, Hall said that sharing of information between Danbury, Conn.-based Bristol, Caldera and the U.S. government would be beneficial. ''It is the view of this court that reciprocal sharing of information between Bristol and a willing plaintiff in either of the other two cases (U.S. vs. Microsoft and Caldera vs. Microsoft) will materially assist in the preparation of the instant case for trial starting June 1, 1999.''
Bristol said it was confident that the judges in the U.S. and Caldera cases will have the same view.
<<<
Well, with three cases in the pipeline, all related (Netscape, Caldera, Bristol) and lots of scrutiny due to their Media Player gambit as well as the somewhat naked attempt to buy market share for CE via the ATT investment. It looks like there is plenty of ammunition for the DOJ to make mincemeat out of these guys. I like the Stallings proposal best. Don't break them up, just have them publish their formats and then make them stick to it.
Also, the Internet appliance market will not be controlled by MS. Too much at stake. I see Sony, Nintendo, Intel being significant players.
Thure |
