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

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (34581)	11/22/1999 8:04:00 AM
From: Box-By-The-Riviera™	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

NEW YORK, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Lawyers say they will file a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O Monday on behalf of millions of Californians, the New York Times said. It would be the first of what legal experts say could become a flood of private litigation stemming from the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust action against the software giant, the Times said. The suit is to be filed by three longtime class-action lawyers, and will accuse Microsoft of using its monopoly in operating systems software to overcharge buyers of Windows 95 and Windows 98, the paper said. The three lawyers, Terry Gross of San Francisco, Daniel Mogin of San Diego and Francis Scarpulla of San Francisco, plan to file the suit in California Superior court in San Francisco, the paper said. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's findings in the Justice Department case provide a good starting point for the class-action suit, Gross told the Times. The complaint does not estimate the financial impact to Windows users, but the lawyers are seeking triple damages if the suit leads to an eventual finding of financial harm, the Times said.

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (34581)	11/22/1999 8:16:00 AM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Bravo! I liked your reference to loss of private property rights. That happens to be the argument put forward by some of the right wing lobbyist groups around the Washington beltway, who are financed in large part by Microsoft. Yes, they are making a very big effort to sway public opinion, by sending letters to rural area, conservative newspapers, hoping to inflame conservative, antigovernment sentiment. You can put whatever spin you choose on this affair, and condemn the facts in the fact finding document as false, but in doing so you condemn Microsoft even more, since the key facts came right from Microsoft officials in the form of direct testimony or e-mail and related correspondence. The appointment of a conservative, antitrust expert as mediator, while you suggest it is a sign a weakness, could also be a sign of strength. What if Posner confirms that Judge Jackson's fact findings were supported by the evidence? Seems to me that a refusal to negotiate in good faith at this point would be the worst strategy Microsoft could ever adopt. Investor sentiment, as shown by the increase in stock price in extended hours trading, is obviously assuming that Microsoft has brains enough to negotiate.