Still more legal battles, CCIA & Dole back the DoJ and a Ms-owned company sues itself.

The Continuing Crisis

•The Microsoft vs DoJ battle went on as usual last week. The government investigators produced evidence - in the form of interoffice e-mails - that Microsoft had no intention to integrate a web browser with Windows when the 1994 antitrust agreement was signed. "We view Microsoft as saying they can bundle anything they want, that they 'can sell Windows 95 and a ham sandwich' and it would be an integrated product," Justice Department officials said at a news briefing. Microsoft continued to deny all charges of wrongdoing and spewed their usual 'the government doesn't know anything about technology' and 'the government knew we were going to integrate a browser' lines. There will be a district court hearing on this case Friday, so expect a lot more news next week.

•In related events, Thursday before last an employee of Microsoft PR firm Edelman Public Relations was caught sneaking into a Department of Justice press-only briefing on the investigation. DoJ officials escorted the man out without incident after it was revealed that he didn't have a press pass. "I think he knew that he was someplace he wasn't supposed to be," DoJ spokesman Michael Gordon later commented. We were unable to confirm if this was the same PR company that staged a protest outside the Appraising Microsoft conference almost 3 weeks ago.

•The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has charged Microsoft with extortion in its attempts to control the internet. Edward Black, head of the CCIA, said Microsoft was telling computer makers they must use its Web brower "or else." The association also filed a brief supporting the DoJ's investigation of the behemoth's business practices. The brief said Microsoft was using its monopoly position "to gain an unfair competitive advantage against other providers of Internet browsers." Association officials said they hope their brief will help convince Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to rule in favor of the government this Friday. Ms executives defended the company by claiming the CCIA is just an extension of long-time Microsoft opponents Sun Microsystems and AT&T, forgetting about the hundreds of other organization members.

Retired US Senator Bob Dole also gave the government investigation his backing last week in an LA Times opinion column. In the column Senator Dole stated that his instincts usually lean away from government intervention, but in this case he makes an exception. "When a dominant company artificially dictates how, where, and even if consumers have choice in the online marketplace, it is time for the government to step in and enforce the antitrust laws," the former Republican presidential candidate wrote. Dole predicted that the internet will take a dominant role in the future of commerce and investing, and as such no company should have a monopoly to its access.

•Last week, Unix developer Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) was released from a decade-old licensing agreement with Microsoft. The agreement, which required SCO to add useless Microsoft code to its OSes and pay royalties "in perpetuity," was found to be anticompetitive by the European Union. Following that ruling, Ms released SCO from the contract. The agreement was originally made 10 years ago and required SCO to make all its applications and OSes backwards-compatable with Microsoft's short-lived Un*x clone, Xenix. Termination of the contract should save SCO $6 million per year and add between 5 and 9 cents per share to its stock price. However, since Microsoft owns part of SCO, it will make part of the licensing money back with its stock holdings. That makes the story even weirder, as SCO is comtemplating suing Ms to get back the royalties it wrongly paid over the last 8 or 9 years. Like we've said before, when they start fighting amongst themselves the end is near..

Microsoft Stock Track

MSFT Stock Price^*142.6

Bill Gates' Worth$40.2 Billion

*As Of Closing, 12/04/97
Thanks to Bill Gates Personal Wealth Clock.

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