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

To: David R. Colby who wrote (41455)	4/6/2000 7:36:00 PM
From: johnd	Respond to of 74651

Sun Micro Loses in Pretrial Court Fight Over Microsoft Contract By Vivien Lou Chen San Jose, California, April 6 (Bloomberg) -- A federal judge rejected Sun Microsystems Inc.'s interpretation of a 1996 contract with Microsoft Corp. involving the shipment of Sun's latest Java technology to Microsoft. The pretrial ruling by U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte in San Jose, California, released yesterday makes final a tentative decision he reached last May. At issue was whether Sun could deliver updated versions of the Java programming language to Microsoft that are incompatible with Microsoft's software. ``This ruling is important because it supports Microsoft's interpretation of this language, which supports our contention that Sun breached the contract,' said Microsoft attorney Karl Quackenbush. No trial date has been set in the case. Whyte's ruling disposed of a pretrial issue. The jury must still decide such issues as whether Microsoft has the right to develop versions of Java that don't pass Sun's compatibility tests. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, and Sun, a leading maker of workstation computers, have been embroiled in a dispute over the agreement that gave Microsoft the right to license Java from Sun. Developed by Sun, Java is a programming language that was designed to run on all operating systems. Microsoft claimed that the 1996 contract required Sun to deliver upgraded versions of Java that run on Microsoft's current, commercially distributed software. Whyte ruled that the contract's language is ``reasonably susceptible to Microsoft's asserted interpretation.' ``From Sun's position, there's nothing more we can say because we're waiting for Judge Whyte to rule on Microsoft's countermotion on this issue,' said Sun spokeswoman Penny Bruce. Shares of Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, fell 3/8 to 86. Shares of Sun, based in Palo Alto, California, rose 3 15/16 to 92 11/16.

To: David R. Colby who wrote (41455)	4/6/2000 7:49:00 PM
From: Gottfried	Respond to of 74651

David, re >Bill Gates and Billy Clinton sitting next to each other at the technology conference. "Smoozing," as Clinton would say.< When I saw that, just days after the findings, I wondered if Clinton intended to send a message to the judge. Gottfried