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To: Keith Hankin who wrote (22045)	12/8/1998 2:16:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 24154

Microsoft Antitrust Trial Resumes nytimes.com Somewhat tied to that issue, but first a humorous aside. Condon, the state's attorney general, said in a statement also distributed by Microsoft: ''I can no longer justify our continued involvement or the expenditure of state resources on a trial that has been made moot by the actions of the competitive marketplace.'' Microsoft said it gave $20,000 this election cycle to the Republican Party in South Carolina. State GOP executive director Trey Walker described the contribution as among the largest received. Could it be that South Carolina jumped ship because they could be had cheaply? Bill's always been a bargain shopper. Back to the other issue: The government contends Microsoft ''tied'' its Internet software to Windows 98, which would violate antitrust law because it forces Windows customers also to use Microsoft Internet software. Legal experts have said this ''tying'' allegation may be among the weakest of the government's claims, because a federal appeals court ruled in a related case in June that Microsoft's bundling its Internet software with Windows 95 was legal and a ''genuine integration'' because consumers benefited. But Farber warned that if Microsoft were allowed to add anything to Windows, the company ''could become the one and only universal software product.'' AKA "Windows World", he notes dryly in an echo from the past. Farber's complaint was the same voiced in June by the lone dissenting appeals court judge, Patricia Wald. She said the appeals ruling ''would seem to permit Microsoft to 'integrate' word-processing programs, spreadsheets, financial management software and virtually any other now-separate software product into its operating system.'' But the other two found the "ham sandwich defense" compelling. One of my lines was that IE was as integrated as Office, a line somewhat acknowledged by Microsoft lawyer Urowsky in the original consent decree hearings. He more or less challenged DoJ to bring a Sherman action. . . . The tying thing may indeed be the weakest part of the government's case. It's not the only part anymore, though. "Microsoft must be free to innovate" hasn't been heard lately, has it? With Bill's line of the day about how his interestingly uninformative deposition testimony is all Boies' fault, his legal defense strategy seems as innovative as ever. Cheers, Dan.