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To: Harvey Allen who wrote (23859)	3/25/2000 11:58:00 PM
From: Rusty Johnson	Respond to of 24154

Justice Department Is Said to Be Unimpressed With Microsoft Offer An INTERACTIVE JOURNAL News Roundup WASHINGTON -- Skeptical government lawyers consider an 11th-hour offer from the Microsoft Corp. to settle its antitrust trial so inadequate in important areas that there were no immediate plans to resume negotiations in Chicago, people close to the case said Saturday. These sources did not rule out the possibility of talks resuming, and the government continued to evaluate the proposal by Microsoft to end the case before Tuesday, when the trial judge has threatened to announce his verdict. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who has hinted he will rule strongly against Microsoft, has told lawyers in a private meeting that he will deliver his ruling that day unless there is progress in settlement talks being organized by U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner in Chicago. The government on Saturday again reviewed Microsoft's latest offer, which published reports said included promises to separate the company's Internet-browser software from its dominant Windows operating system. But there was no indication whether doing so would satisfy government negotiators now that Internet Explorer has eclipsed Netscape's Navigator and become the market's dominant Web browser. The proposal, faxed on Friday, was sufficiently complex that some of the Justice Department's top technical experts were evaluating it. But there were new signs suggesting no deal would be struck successfully before Judge Jackson's deadline. ... Monopoly Power The Justice Department has backed off proposals to break up Microsoft to restrain what the judge has characterized as the company's abuse of its monopoly power over the technology industry. But it was expected to demand some limits on what features Microsoft can add to Windows, out of fear the company could overwhelm smaller rivals offering some fledgling technology that threatens Microsoft's lucrative flagship Windows software. "If they're going to be hung up on anything, it will be that tying issue," Mr. Litan said. "If Justice is insisting on some sort of future judicial determination whether a new [Windows] product includes an unlawful tie, I can't see Microsoft going for that." ... Good article. It should be in Monday's Wall Street Journal. And there's Bloomberg ... Microsoft, U.S. Remain Far From Reaching Agreement, People Familiar Say By James Rowley bloomberg.com Best of luck.

To: Harvey Allen who wrote (23859)	3/27/2000 10:13:00 AM
From: Harvey Allen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Microsoft settlement deal doesn't look promising BY JAMES V. GRIMALDI Washington Post WASHINGTON -- Time is running out for a deal between Microsoft Corp. and government attorneys, who are skeptical that the software company's proposal to settle an antitrust lawsuit will restore competition to the market for personal computer operating systems, people familiar with the talks said Sunday. The settlement deadline is Tuesday, but efforts to reach a deal were complicated by a division between the Justice Department and 19 state attorneys general. The Justice Department believes a conduct-restraining settlement is possible, but some of the state attorneys general would prefer the clarity of a federal judge's verdict to the potential uncertainty of a mediated settlement, sources close to the talks said. Though there isn't unanimity among the states either, some hard-liners among the states also fret that talks center on placing limits on certain Microsoft business practices rather than on breaking up the Redmond, Wash., company, which U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has ruled is a monopoly. Jackson ruled that the company used that monopoly to harm competition, innovation and consumers. He next will rule on whether those acts broke antitrust law. The attorneys worked Sunday by fax, phone and e-mail, answering questions and responding to proposals exchanged through Richard Posner, a federal appeals court judge in Chicago who volunteered to mediate a settlement. Jackson told lawyers last week that he was prepared to issue his ruling Tuesday unless progress was made. Reports that the talks were unlikely to succeed before a ruling could hurt Microsoft's stock today, analysts said. Last week, shares soared on reports that negotiations had picked up. Microsoft's stock closed Friday at $111.69 a share on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The talks have been influenced by the perceived failure of a 1995 consent decree to rein in Microsoft's anti-competitive business practices and what the government attorneys have described as Microsoft's repeated and flagrant antitrust violations. Microsoft has denied that it breached the spirit or the intent of the decree. Government negotiators seem particularly leery that Microsoft's detailed proposal submitted last week was loaded with loopholes and hidden escape clauses meant to neuter any deal, sources said. ``The (government) antitrust people think that Microsoft has been ruthless and endlessly predatory and (Microsoft officials) don't see themselves that way,' said Robert Bork, a former U.S. District Court of Appeals judge and an antitrust scholar who has backed the government's suit against Microsoft. Bork said Microsoft officials ``are going to be unwilling to give up much. Settlement is probably unlikely.' Robert Litan, who negotiated the 1995 consent decree while at the Justice Department, said Jackson's findings show Microsoft ratcheted up its monopolistic conduct after the 1995 decree. That's why the Justice Department is playing tough. ``All that history just reinforces the caution Justice has about not wanting to get burned again,' he said. sjmercury.com