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SUN TAKES THE STANDWhen the Justice Dept. sued Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in May, Exhibit A was the software giant's behavior in the browser wars--specifically Microsoft's ''tying'' arrangements to force computer makers to use its browser. That part of the case is shaky after an appeals court ruled that bundling the browser with Windows 95 was legal. So, as the trial gets under way--on Oct. 19, barring last-minute delays--Justice will focus on another alleged pattern of anticompetitive behavior: Microsoft's efforts to derail Sun Microsystems Inc.'s (SUNW) Java language. Justice hasn't suddenly discovered Java, which was in the original suit. And the core of the case is still alleged anticompetitive acts involving rival browser maker Netscape Communications Corp. (NSCP) But the department's pretrial maneuvering shows that Sun will play a bigger role. In the final days before trial, Justice changed its witness lineup to include a new key witness: James Gosling, a Sun vice-president and the creator of Java. Using Gosling's testimony, that of other industry executives, and a trove of Microsoft E-mail, Justice is hoping to show that Microsoft set out to ''deliberately destroy the pro-competitive alternative that Java offers,'' David Boies, Justice's lead trial counsel, recently said in court. Microsoft is crying foul. Not only are the Java charges ludicrous, it says, but it has not had enough time to prepare for this 11th-hour witness. Meanwhile, the government is honing its two-pronged attack. It plans to argue that in the early to mid-1990s, Microsoft realized that two developments--Netscape Communications Corp.'s Internet browser and Java--could erode its Windows business. Java was a threat, the government says, because it enabled software developers to write applications that could run on any system on the Internet--to be, in programmer parlance ''cross-platform.'' That approach, if it caught on, might make Windows--or any other operating system--less important: Software writers would write for Java, rather than specifically for Windows, as they do now. The Justice Dept. will argue that Microsoft set out to destroy Java's key advantage--its ability to run on all kinds of hardware, not just Windows machines--by licensing Java, then creating a Windows-only version and coercing software developers to use it. Prosecutors allege that, because Netscape uses cross-platform Java, Microsoft's attempts to kill the rival browser were also aimed at harming Sun's Java. Another alleged tactic, according to Sun general counsel Michael H. Morris: If they wanted to keep the coveted ''Windows-compatible'' logo on their products, developers were required to use the Microsoft version of Java. Justice also will allege that the software giant pressured Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) to use Microsoft's version of Java--and Microsoft Internet Explorer--as a condition of getting a $150 million investment from Microsoft. ''SCREW SUN.'' Justice intends to use a battery of internal documents to prove that Microsoft intended to ''pollute'' Java. Much of the evidence was subpoenaed from a California suit in which Sun is charging Microsoft with breach of contract. In one document, Microsoft wrote that a ''strategic objective'' was to ''kill cross-platform Java.'' In a 1997 E-mail, a company engineer wrote: ''Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's...steal the Java language.'' Microsoft argues that its license agreement with Sun allowed it to modify Java--a dispute at the center of Sun's suit. And rather than setting out to harm cross-platform Java, Microsoft says it sought to improve the technology. Software writers opt for Microsoft's version because it works better with Windows, the company says. Now, it's up to Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to decide who's right.
By Susan B. Garland in Washington
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Updated Oct. 15, 1998 by bwwebmaster
Copyright 1998, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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