Last Monday on Windows Refund Day, several hundred alternative OS users marched on Microsoft offices around the country demanding refunds on their unused copies of Windows. But Microsoft had other plans, greeting the protesters at their Silicon Valley headquarters with locked doors and a sarcastic 'Microsoft Welcomes the Linux Community' banner. Then Windows group manager Rob Bennett directed them to the roof of a nearby parking garage, where they were offered drinks and allows to ask questions. Bennett then told the crowd that any responsibility for refund falls on individual computer manufacturers, not Microsoft itself.
But those computer manufacturers - particularly Compaq, Dell and IBM - also refused to give refunds, telling everyone who contacted them that the licensing agrement was written by and belongs to Microsoft, so the responsibility passes back to them. Compaq's Alan Hodel did offer to give refund on whole computers, while a Dell representative said that they would handle customer complaints on a "case by case" basis. Microsoft's only public comment was a press release entitled, 'Microsoft Welcomes Linux Community at Local Offices,' restating the message delivered by Rob Bennett. That left many of the protestors and several consumer groups clamoring to file class action lawsuits against Microsoft in order to get their refunds.

COURT NOTES: Court resumed last Tuesday after a US holiday with an allegory from Judge Jackson: "When you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. But lawyers have other strategies, including buying a stronger whip, changing riders ... declaring that the horse is better, faster and cheaper dead, and, finally, harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed." The justice department then played a video of its own, showing what _really_ happens when someone tries to download and install the AOL version of Netscape Navigator. Several inconsistancies in the earlier Microsoft-made video were made obvious, forcing Microsoft Vice President Brad Chase to admit that some of his earlier testimony was "incorrect."
The government then introduced a memo written to Bill Gates by former Microsoft executive Mike Slade. The message described a meeting with Intuit executives and explained how Microsoft tied to split financial services market with them. Brad Chase was called back to the stand but Judge Jackson cut his testimony short when it appeared government attorney David Boies was making no progress with him.
On Wednesday Chase was on the stand again explaining that America Online originally chose Internet Explorer over Netscape because it was technologically superior, not because Microsoft offered the company a prime spot on the Windows 95 desktop as America Online executive David Colburn testified back in November [see NewsSource, Nov. 09 '98]. Chase also testified that AOL chose to continue using Explorer earlier this year - despite the fact that it will soon own Netscape - because it helped the government case (something that we pointed out back in January).
When court began on Thursday, Judge Jackson announced that he would begin holding sessions on Fridays to speed up the trial. After that announcement, (notice how fast Microsoft is rushing through its witnesses now), Compaq senior vice president John Rose admitted that his company has no alternative to shipping its personal computers with Windows. But Rose testified that he disagrees with an internal memo that described the latest licensing terms as "improper use of a monopoly position." Rose then conceded the DOJ's charge that Microsoft threatened to remove Compaq's Windows 95 license in 1996 because the computer manufacturer removed the Internet Explorer and MSN icons from the desktop. But he defended Microsoft's actions, saying that the letter was justified because removing the icons violated Compaq's contract.
David Boies then produced evidence showing that Rose had recently flown to meet with Microsoft executives about his testimony in the trial. Rose said that he only spoke with Microsoft's Paul Maritz, and that he had flown up to discuss Windows NT and SQL Server. Boies, in a now familiar move, then produced an e-mail from Gates thanking Mr. Rose for his trips to Seattle and his "willingness to extract a lot of time" for the antitrust case. Boies produced more evidence, one concerning confedential documents about the Be OS that Compaq slipped to Microsoft. Judge Jackson stopped the proceedings to request that Boies not ask any more questions about the Be incident since Rose said he had no knowledge of it.
But the next day Compaq lawyers brought the Be issue back up, admitting that they told Microsoft about their discussions with the small software company, but that they never gave out any important information. Meanwhile Compaq's Rose finished up his testimony, saying that Microsoft had actually only complained about Compaq's removal of those icons from the desktop, not about the Netscape icon. He then claimed that AOL, rather than Microsoft, complained about the Netsape icon because of a "miscommunication."

Early last week two new antitrust suits were filed against Microsoft by private companies. One of them was filed against Microsoft, Packard-Bell, Dell and Compaq on behalf of Gravity, a company that makes document management software. That suit accuses Microsoft and the three PC makers of denying customers free choice and competitive prices "as well as the benefits of software innovation."
A separate suit filed Thursday on behalf of a California man (who recently attempted to get a refund on Windows) accuses Microsoft of blocking superior operating systems from being sold and of charging monopoly prices, in violation of California antitrust law. Microsoft denied the charges in both lawsuits but declined to give further comment, while representatives from Compaq, Dell, and Packard-Bell were not immediately available for comment. This raises the number of major lawsuits against Microsoft to six, counting the ones filed by the US Department of Justice, Sun Microsystems, Caldera, Bristol and Blue Mountain Arts.

In the middle of last week Microsoft began briefing its developers on a new "extension" of the C++ language known as C++ Object Oriented Language, or COOL. While Microsoft is publicly saying that COOL is only a bridge between C++ and its COM+ protocols, some sources from inside the company are leaking that Microsoft is setting it up as an alternative to Java. That information is reinforced by members of the Microsoft Developers Network who are saying Microsoft has not given them all the Java-related software it promised when they signed up for MSDN.
Rumors about COOL grew when Circuit Judge Ronald Whyte ruled on Thursday that Microsoft is free to develop and market a Java competitor. That caused many people to speculate that The Behemoth may even go so far as to abandon the Visual J++ Java development tool which it was recently forced to bring into full Java compliance. Microsoft denies that VJ++ is on the endangered list, pointing out that the bloatware program is more widley used than any other Java utility.

Microsoft got a break on the 18th when the judge overseeing Caldera vs. Microsoft pushed that trial back to January 17, 2000. Microsoft had originally requested that the June start date be moved back three months, but Judge Benson changed it by seven months because of a scheduling conflict. Microsoft requedted that the case be delayed after the judge refused to dismiss Caldera's antitrust charges against it.

Egghead.Com announced Tuesday that it has signed up with Microsoft to be MSN Shopping's anchor software store. It was also announced that MSN and Ticketmaster Online have finally settled their dispute over linking methods. Back in 1997 TM and MSN's Sidewalk had a deal similar to the new one between MSN and Egghead.com. But then TM and Sidewalk competitor CitySearch merged and TM began complaining about the way Sidewalk linked to its site. No details of the settlement have been announced.

_{Software for Defense
Win 2000 will demand applications be rebuilt
The Trouble with Windows
OEMs challenged to pre-load Be, Linux
New NT Security Risk Uncovered}