To: Reginald Middleton who wrote (21573 ) 11/19/1998 1:49:00 PM From: Daniel Schuh Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Microsoft: Java is a high-tech conspiracy zdnet.com "Do you think it's appropriate, Mr. Soyring, for six of the largest software companies in the world to agree with each other to collude with one another to compete against Microsoft?" By itself, the line of argument makes sense to Microsoft's defense, antitrust specialists say: By showing it is constantly in the crosshairs of a bevy of competitors, it helps undermine antitrust arguments which must ultimately show the company has the power to crush competition at will. But even Microsoft supporters have criticized the "glass houses" defense, which focuses attention on others conduct instead of that of the company on trial. Company officials never explicitly acknowledged the link, but Microsoft's focus on Java was significant for another reason: It came just hours after a California federal court ruled Microsoft had violated Sun's licensing procedures when it made a version of Java that encouraged software companies to write Java applications that run on Windows and no other operating systems. Microsoft said in a statement Wednesday it has no monopoly and thus cannot be accused of abusing its dominant position in the market. In fact, the company maintains, the market for software is among the most competitive in the world despite its more than 90-percent share of all new PC operating systems sold. n Oct. 19, Lewis fired off his first tart dispatch. He wrote that Microsoft's chairman, William H. Gates, looked in his videotaped testimony "as if he had swallowed a bad oyster." He continued, "I doubt any sane and reasonable man could come away from today thinking anything but that Microsoft is guilty of many awful things, and if those things aren't strictly illegal, they should be."
