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

To: odd lot who wrote (15211)	1/27/1999 4:50:00 PM
From: t2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

Oddlot, I think it is just the market downturn that is screwing MSFT and others. Everything dropped in the last half hour. I actually put in a big Feb 170 call option order on the company in the last 5 minutes. Hoping to unload in a day or so with a 40% profit. All I need is a rise to about 171 to 172 for that to happen (maybe tomorrow---maybe I will just have to wait) Hoping AOL numbers help the entire technology/internet group tomorrow.

To: odd lot who wrote (15211)	1/28/1999 3:09:00 AM
From: Martin Rasch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Microsoft exec says browser integral to Windows January 27, 1999 08:26 PM (new throughout with new testimony filed) By David Lawsky WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Microsoft executive James Allchin said in written testimony released on Wednesday for the company's antitrust trial that Web browsing could not be removed from its Windows 98 operating system. But the government filed a motion asking that Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson compel Microsoft to surrender new evidence it asserted might undercut Allchin's argument. Jackson said he would hear the motion when court convened on Thursday. The argument is important to allegations by the Justice Department and 19 states that Microsoft Corp. MSFT unfairly uses a monopoly in the Windows operating system to preserve its market dominance and gain advantages in other business areas. In particular, the government alleges that Microsoft competed unfairly against Netscape Communications Corp. NSCP in the battle for dominance in Web browsers. The government asserts that one of Microsoft's strategies was to weld its Internet Explorer Web browser to its Windows 98 operating system. Allchin, who will appear in court next week, argued the two were put together to provide new advantages for customers. "There is no separate Web browser application that runs on top of Windows 98," Allchin said in his written testimony. "Instead, Windows 98 was designed on the assumption that Internet Explorer technologies are part of the operating system." Princeton University Professor Edward Felten testified earlier for the government that he was able to separate out Web browsing from other functions of the operating system, but Allchin ridiculed that claim. "What Dr. Felten has done is a pointless exercise that proves nothing," Allchin said, noting that "my hand can be surgically removed from my body, but it was certainly a well-integrated part of my body before that surgery." Government lawyers think they may have found new evidence to help them wade into the highly technical argument. The operating system is made up of many small units. Each unit is a library -- called a dynamically linked library, or DLL -- that is vital to the system. Disable one and the entire system, or large parts of it, may stop working. Microsoft argues that the Web browser and many other functions rely on exactly the same libraries. But Felten and another government witness, David Farber, testified that each library was like a bag of groceries containing a can of soup. In the same way that cans may be moved from bag to bag, subroutines for particular functions may be moved from one DLL to another, they said. The government asked for permission to publicly introduce an e-mail by David D'Souza, a Microsoft software engineer. The government quoted D'Souza as saying it appeared that, based on Felten's analysis, one could "'separate' SHDOVW (the relevant library) into two parts," those which have to do with the browser exclusively and those that handle other functions. Asked about that, a spokesman for Microsoft, Mark Murray, said, "We don't believe that's an accurate assessment." He also said the government was not entitled to the D'Souza e-mail. During the trial on Wednesday, Paul Maritz -- one of Microsoft's top three executives -- testified that rival RealNetworks Inc. RNWK told him it would stop competing with Microsoft in return for an investment in the firm. But Maritz acknowledged that only under pounding cross-examination by government lawyer David Boies. Earlier, Maritz had said repeatedly that it was the Microsoft's hope that if it invested in RealNetworks, the firm could be convinced to move in other directions. A RealNetworks spokesman said in a telephone interview that the firm had never agreed to avoid competition as a condition of receiving the investment it had sought from Microsoft. Maritz said that RealNetworks was seen as a real threat to Microsoft's dominance of software "platforms." Throughout three days of cross-examination, which finished on Wednesday, the government has attempted to show that Microsoft tries to sidetrack potential or emerging competitors through pressure, wheedling and attractive offers. REUTERS