Word: antitrust
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...different courtrooms simultaneously. Tiny software companies in Utah and Connecticut are taking Microsoft to task for its strong-arm operating-system tactics. Over in California, larger rival Sun Microsystems wants to save its Java programming language from Microsoft "pollution." And oh, yeah, there's the small matter of the antitrust trial, resuming Tuesday in Washington, where Justice Department lawyers are set to wheel out their biggest gun yet, an executive from IBM, the first computer manufacturer to testify against the software titan...
Despite all this jockeying for position on Gates' enemies list, however, there's no company that Microsoft claims to fear more than America Online. At this point, Microsoft's legal strategy in the antitrust case seems to consist largely of proving AOL's worth as a once and future competitor in just about every digital arena. At a deposition two weeks ago, Microsoft put AOL's Steve Case on the rack over his business plans. Now AOL exec David Colburn will be called as a hostile witness. "They've put most of their chips on the AOL marker," says George...
Microsoft execs will no doubt see a darker purpose in such a probe, just as they cried conspiracy when AOL bought Netscape while both were witnesses for the prosecution. Microsoft is convinced that AOL is hiding under the government's antitrust skirts, and there's little Case can do that won't be viewed in Redmond through that prism. When AOL bought Netscape, why didn't it change its default browser from Microsoft's to Netscape's? So as not to weaken the antitrust case, says Microsoft. "When the trial is over," predicts an exec, "they're going to switch...
...billion Other antitrust fines collected by Justice since...
...million Annual budget for Justice's antitrust division...