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

To: Harry Sharp who wrote (15635)	2/7/1999 11:25:00 AM
From: t2	Respond to of 74651

It will boil down to whether anti-trust laws are for the protection of competitor or consumers--I bet this issue will be central and of course head all the way to the supreme court. Defense witness testimony is not going to be the key factor in that case. The U.S. Justice Department, emboldened by Microsoft's missteps in defending against antitrust charges, is considering seeking tougher remedies than those contemplated at the trial's outset, said people familiar with the government's strategy. A break-up of the world's largest software company, similar to the fate met by Standard Oil Trust and AT&T Corp., is one remedy government lawyers might seek if U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson rules that Microsoft used illegal tactics to protect its Windows monopoly, the people said. This is not new. They had suggested this in the past also even though it was not part of their case. I heard these comments a long time ago. By the way, if MSFT was not fair in the way it did things in the past, it does not mean a break up is required. It just means they may be required to remove the browser if a PC maker wants it done. When the government goes into the remedy stage (assuming a win), they would be dumb to say all they want is the Netscape browser included. Always ask for more so that you are ensured of getting what you are really after--is a good stategy. I don't think Janet Reno and Joel Klein will just support tougher remedies if David Boies suggests it. They know these kinds of thing can lead to political fallouts also.---MSFT does a lot of lobbying. I think MSFT better start supporting some of the democrats and not just Republicans since it appears Democrats may win the next election.

To: Harry Sharp who wrote (15635)	2/7/1999 11:34:00 AM
From: t2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Harry, AT&T recommended its break up at some stage of their trial. Surely, MSFT does not have as much control. Personally, I think even Judge Jackson will not go so far. He would just stop at browser and maybe wants to ensure that IBM does not have to pay more for the operating system than Dell or Compaq do. That is, price for the O/S should not be linked to sales of Office97----to which MSFT will agree anyways. Don't forget Apple, Linux, AOL, Oracle and SunW-----they all are competing with MSFT. In some ways, it is still a competition among operating systems (or the lack of a need for an O/S). I have to repeat---I have read the Bloomberg story long time ago and it should not affect the price of the stock in the near future.

To: Harry Sharp who wrote (15635)	2/7/1999 2:15:00 PM
From: t2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Harry, Generally news releases hit other news services like RTN, DJ etc. So far I have not seen any. If some person familiar with the case makes a comment, it could just be a tactic to "scare" MSFT to settle now or to set a starting point. Think about this. If a company acted improperly in the past, why would a break up be the solution. A good solution is a big fine and a warning to not do it again. Remember this whole case surrounds the browser inclusion into Windows. There are other operating systems--like Apple. Microsoft is going to argue that it is not a monopoly---and this issue will hit the supreme court no matter what judge Jackson thinks of the witnesses. It will be a long time before we get closure in this case. Jackson might try to push it straight to the supreme court (remember that story--unless you think I am imagining it ) but the supreme court may send it back to be argued at the the appeals court level. Considering AOL/Netscape deal, forget about fast tracking. Any remedy will have to consider the current market conditions---don't like windows? Buy an I-Mac or get Linux. This is why the remedy stage is going to be a big letdown for all the MSFT haters. It also gives judge jackson the opportunity to appear unbiased (assuming he rules against MSFT). BTW--I read all news story on MSFT (have done so for about 1 year)but don't get print outs. Have a tendency to forget some facts-- but I remember the important points. The government's real interest is to get the public to hate MSFT so that competitive products will do better. This is what the competition wants. They are having about as much luck as the Republicans against Clinton.