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

To: ToySoldier who wrote (21949)	5/3/1999 1:42:00 PM
From: taxman	Respond to of 74651

"will not bode well for MSFT stock price" story was in ny times May 1 so it should already be in the price. regards search.nytimes.com May 1, 1999 I.B.M. May Testify for U.S. Against Microsoft in Trial By STEVE LOHR n its antitrust suit against the Microsoft Corporation, the Government has portrayed personal computer makers as little more than indentured servants of the software powerhouse. Again and again, Government lawyers asserted, Microsoft used the monopoly power of its Windows operating system to bend PC companies to its will, reducing competition and consumer choice. But a weak point in the Government's case has been that none of the PC companies it portrays as victims have taken the stand to support the Justice Department's charges. For the rebuttal phase of the trial, however, a manager of the International Business Machines Corporation's PC division has agreed to testify, according to people close to the case. I.B.M. declined last night to comment on whether it would provide a witness. The names of the rebuttal witnesses -- up to three each for the Government and Microsoft -- are to be submitted to a Federal court in Washington late Monday afternoon. And the trial, which recessed in February, is expected to resume late this month or in early June. The Justice Department and 19 states suing Microsoft are confident they have already presented a strong case in the trial, which began last October. Still, the Government has been prodding PC makers, including I.B.M., Gateway and Hewlett-Packard, to come forward as witnesses. One PC company executive, from the Compaq Computer Corporation, did appear as a defense witness. The Government wants a manufacturer as a prosecution witness partly to strengthen its case further, but also with an eye toward what happens next, should it win the case. The sanctions the Justice Department and states plan to seek, according to people close to the case, would be intended to overhaul the relationship between Microsoft and the PC makers in ways that restore competition to the industry. Some steps being considered, these people say, are forcing Microsoft to publish the prices it charges PC makers for Windows and other software, then prohibiting it from selling Windows at a lower price to those companies that favor other Microsoft products. The Government wants any sanctions to give PC makers greater freedom to choose non-Microsoft products like Internet software. Even so, the Government has had trouble persuading any PC makers to take the stand for the prosecution, even though PC company executives have complained about Microsoft's bullying tactics in depositions. The Justice Department, in particular, has been urging Theodore W. Waitt, the chairman of Gateway Inc., and executives of Hewlett-Packard to come forward. But both companies have been reluctant, according to people close to the case. The Government says PC makers have resisted testifying against Microsoft in the trial because they fear retaliation. I.B.M. -- the world's largest computer company and one that is diversified well beyond PC's -- has less to fear from Microsoft.

To: ToySoldier who wrote (21949)	5/3/1999 1:42:00 PM
From: dumbmoney	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

Let's all have a pity party for IBM! Poor little helpless IBM! "The PC era is over" - IBM "The IBM era is over" - Microsoft/Intel/Dell

To: ToySoldier who wrote (21949)	5/3/1999 2:57:00 PM
From: John F. Dowd	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 74651

Toy: IBM has been orchestrating this whole event from the start. They, as do most corps., have great memories and they are still smarting from how they were outflanked by MSFT over the past 10 yrs. This announcement is 2 days old. I doubt that another whiner on the side of DOJ is going to make a difference. The concern might be that MSFT is going to help Comcast which would not be in the best interest of MSFT and in all likelihood will not come to pass. The present value of MSFT is a great opportunity for folks like you to get into this great company at a discount of nearly 20%. JFD