counsel Mike Morris, who compares the current situation to Microsoft's browser wars with Netscape. "These people are reprobates. They never learn."
Morris said Sun, which has always kept its lines of communication with regulators and lawmakers open, plans to redouble its anti-Microsoft lobbying efforts with the state attorneys general and key members of Congress, such as the Senate Judiciary Committee, which eventually will hold confirmation hearings for Charles James, Bush's prospective Justice Department antitrust chief.
Sun plans to wait until new antitrust personnel are in place at the DOJ before actively lobbying the department against Microsoft. Morris said Sun wasn't involved in Friday's briefing for the states because "we knew AOL was going to carry the ball on this one."
The latest allegations could be used by the states to defend the position that a strong remedy be imposed on Microsoft if, as is widely expected, the appeals court upholds some of the charges against Microsoft but throws out U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's plan to split the company in half. The states also could use the information as the basis of an entirely new case if the appeals court rejects all of the charges against Microsoft.
Many trial observers expect that the Bush administration would not pursue a Supreme Court appeal if the appellate court rules for Microsoft. If the court sends the case back down for further proceedings, James and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft are seen as more ready than their predecessors to reopen settlement talks. The states, however, have vowed not to drop the case.
Regardless of which side is right about .Net, Windows XP and Microsoft's motives, the software giant undisputedly is steaming ahead without regard to Jackson's order breaking up Microsoft.
The breakup, and various conduct restrictions on the operating systems company that Jackson also ordered, would make the marriage of Windows XP and .Net impossible. For example, Jackson's order forbids Microsoft from "binding" any middleware — such as Web browsers or media playing software — to Windows unless the company offers a Windows version that allows the middleware to be removed by computer makers or end users.
The appeals court verdict on Jackson's rulings is expected within a few months. But Microsoft's announcement Monday is a clear signal that the company is optimistic about its chances with the appeals court.
"I think there is a basic confidence here that their legal argument on integration is going to prevail," said William Kovacic, a George Washington University (dossier) law professor.
Elizabeth Wasserman contributed to this report.
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Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of Sun general counsel Mike Morris. |
