Federal judges grilled both the government and Microsoft lawyers last Tuesday at The Behemoth's appeal of a court ruling from last December. The preliminary ruling, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, ordered Microsoft to "cease and desist" from requiring OEMs to bundle IE4 with Windows 95. The ruling also appointed a special master to do research on the DOJ's original contempt charges. Ms lawyers argued that the government had failed to prove irreperable damage and that the case should have been dismissed. A final decision from the three judge panel is expected by mid-May.

24 hours before the hearing, former Senator Robert Dole and retired appeals court judge Robert Bork joined the launch of a new consumer group that will primarily target Microsoft's anticompetitive business practices. The new group, Project to Promote Competition and Innovation in the Digital Age (ProComp), has, along with Dole and Bork, represenatives from Sun, Netscape, Oracle, the Software Publishers Association (SPA) and Corel, among others. ProComp officials said that some members are scared to admit their membership in the group, preventing them from releasing a full list.
The most interesting part of this announcement is the participation of Judge Bork. Bork, who worked in the same court where Microsoft held its appeal, has been highly vocal about his opposition of federal antitrust laws and government regulation. But apparently Bork and Senator Dole realize that after a certain point some form of government intervention is necessary. It's also notable that companies not in the software industry, such as Sabre Group (airlines/travel), Knight Ridder (publishing and broadcasting) and Preview Travel are also backing ProComp.

Last Monday we sent the MSBC Anti-Microsoft-Indiana University-Petition to the administrators of IU and various local and national media outlets. The petition, which protests a deal making Microsoft the primary software provider for IU, had over 220 names and e-mail addresses on it, including the names of at least two-dozen IU students and/or faculty members. As of yet the only response we've received was a standard reply from IU President Myles Brand (in which he called Paul Rickard Mr. Richard) saying he forwarded our petition to Vice President McRobbie. We'll keep you updated on this one.
In other educational news, a certain Texas college now requires all students to use Dell desktop and laptop computers running mostly Microsoft software, including (of course) Windows 95 or NT. This falls into the same category as the IU agreement and CETI (see below) and makes us wonder just which, if any, college administrators have been promised jobs or financial aid from The Behemoth.
And now here's the good news.. Microsoft has apprently backed out of the controversial CETI agreement. CETI, as reported here in December, was a ten year deal between the California State University system and a company owned by Microsoft, Fujitsu, Hughes Electronics and GTE. After protests by UC students and faculty, the terms of CETI were changed to make it less exclusive, prompting Microsoft represenatives to say they ended their participation because "We were being asked to make a financial investment at a level we weren't comfortable with." Hughes has also dropped (or been pushed) out of the $3.12 billion agreement.

South American software developer Paiva Piovesan has asked Brazil's Ministry of Justice to launch an antitrust investigation into Microsoft's Brazilian subsidary. The company complains that Microsoft gives away Money '97 with other products, hurting sales of their own banking program, Finance. Paiva Piovesan also has had trouble distributing Finance because Microsoft owns or has agreements with most of the country's software distributors. If the allegations are proven, the subsidary could pay about $5.26 million in fines, or the equivalent of 30 percent of its revenues.

Microsoft, along with DSA, Softway Systems and Intergraph, has signed an unprecedented agreement with the US Air Force to move all of the service's UNIX software to Windows NT. In case any foreign governments are reading this, now would be a good time to attack (just in case you were wondering).
Sources have conformed that the basic version of Internet Explorer 5 will not include a Java Virtual Machine. Apparently Java support for that version will be downloadable in a plugin-type form. While this will likely reduce the reach of Java, it will also drastically reduce the number of web browsers with Microsoft's WinJava.
In semi-related news, Microsoft last week dropped a contract clause that required OEMs to display the "Active Channel Bar" feature of Windows 98. This follows the company's announcement that it will now allow Channel Bar content providers to promote or distribute Netscape products.

_{Microsoft's Reach in Higher Education
Could Microsoft's Store Backfire?
Grade schools to universities, Ms trying to get in
Book to dish Microsoft dirt}