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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Uncle Frank who wrote (28029)	8/9/1999 11:28:00 AM
From: Teflon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Just when I started forgetting about the trial... Microsoft Case Taking Important Step By TED BRIDIS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The next important step in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.(Nasdaq:MSFT - news) happens early this week when the judge receives hundreds of pages of documents largely summarizing months of courtroom arguments. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the sides to present by Tuesday their versions of the facts of the case, one of the final steps toward a possible verdict. Jackson, who made an unorthodox appearance in Atlanta today at a panel discussion with a Microsoft attorney and a lawyer from the New York attorney general's office, could decide the case late this year or early in 2000 - unless off-and-on settlement negotiations succeed. New York is one of several states suing the company. ''Antitrust cases are by nature more complex than most other civil litigation,'' Jackson said at the American Bar Association discussion. He said his approach to the complicated Microsoft case was ''to try to avoid the Vietnam morasses'' that other cases, such as the breakup of AT&T, became. Since the trial began last October, the sides have met several times outside the courtroom, including once in early June. Future talks are anticipated this summer, but outside legal experts consider settlement unlikely. The antitrust case, which accuses Microsoft of illegally wielding monopoly power in the software industry to crush potential rivals, has been on hiatus for seven weeks, since courtroom testimony ended June 21. Microsoft said its court filing this week will focus on what it considers the government's failure to prove that the company's actions hurt customers, which would be necessary to support a guilty verdict. The company apparently hopes to capitalize on a potentially embarrassing slip by government witness Franklin Fisher, an economist. Fisher told Justice lawyer David Boies in January that Microsoft's behavior ''on balance'' hasn't harmed consumers ''up to this point.'' Fisher caught himself moments later and amended his answer to explain that he believed consumers eventually would feel an impact. Microsoft strongly disagrees, said a company lawyer who outlined arguments in Microsoft's court filing on the condition he not be identified. Essentially, Microsoft will reassert that it's not an entrenched monopolist in the fast-paced technology industry. It will argue it didn't illegally discourage the nation's largest computer makers and Internet providers from distributing Web-browsing software manufactured by rival Netscape Communications Corp., recently bought by America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news) The government improperly focused on a few manufacturers of computer operating-system software to illustrate Microsoft's dominance, the company contends. Proving a company wields monopoly power is essential to winning an antitrust case. But Microsoft said it will argue it doesn't charge prices as high as a monopolist would, and its massive spending on research and development of new software ''makes no sense if Microsoft had durable monopoly power,'' the lawyer said. Microsoft wants the judge to consider an array of fledgling technologies as its competition - including new types of software and devices developed by America Online and others. It hopes to show that even though its flagship Windows software runs most of the world's personal computers, Microsoft's future influence is far from certain. In another of its arguments, Microsoft will challenge the government's allegation that it included browsing software free in Windows in 1995 to undermine Netscape. Government lawyers, citing e-mails, contend Microsoft spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop its Internet software but gave it away only after Netscape emerged as a threat to Windows sales. The Justice Department's lawsuit quotes Microsoft's senior vice president, Paul Maritz, saying: ''We are going to cut off (Netscape's) air supply. Everything they're selling, we're going to give away for free.'' Maritz denied making the comment, and on Sunday, The New Yorker reported, in its edition on newsstands Monday, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates' reaction to the alleged quotation: ''A great lie! An unbelievable lie. Did anyone utter those words? Our e-mail, every piece of it, has been searched. ''I wish we had found somebody who said it. Then we could take him out, and we could hang the guy, then we'd say OK, mea culpa. We found him - the guy who said, 'I'll cut off your oxygen.' '' The judge will give the two sides one month to review each other's documents, then make revisions to their own filings and return them Sept. 10. Courtroom arguments are set for Sept. 21. Teflon

To: Uncle Frank who wrote (28029)	8/9/1999 5:38:00 PM
From: limtex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

UF - An almost identical re-run of last August so far. NAZ average 1% per day down with a couple of up days which always turn out not to last and every day down badly at the end as people day in and day out reduce exposure to stocks. I'll have a look at last years chart as I have a feeling that we are even worse than last year as we are only at the 9th August and down 12%. As we get nearer to earnings for Q3 the reality of the strength of the economy especially the tech stcoks will become clear and fund managers, concerened that they will lose their jobs will start to buy again to tart up their results in time for the end of the quarter. Meantime Mr Greenspan will need some serious 'bad' economic news like a further reduction in unemployment or an increase in workers wages in order to prevent the market from gaining again at the end of September. He knows that many people will now be wise to this routine and the Fed will be desperate to try and keep the market down. Best regards, L