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Sun executive sees .Net monopoly threat

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CIOL Bureau
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Peter Kaplan

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WASHINGTON: A Sun Microsystems Inc. executive warned a federal judge on

Tuesday that archrival Microsoft Corp. could use its .NET Web-based services

strategy to thwart competition and extend its monopoly power to the Internet.

Sun's chief strategy officer, Jonathan Schwartz, said that unless tough

antitrust restrictions are imposed on Microsoft it can use its Windows operating

system monopoly and dominant Internet Explorer Web browser to promote .NET over

competitors like Sun's Java programming language.

"The Internet is largely built on open standards, but Microsoft's

control of the ubiquitous operating system combined with its ownership of the

dominant browser and promotion of .NET Passport means that it could lock end

users in to a Microsoft-controlled world," Schwartz said in written

testimony to US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

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The judge turned down a Microsoft request that she throw out Schwartz's

testimony about Web services because it was based on predictions of future

Microsoft behavior.

Kollar-Kotelly initially expressed concern about testimony at the remedy

hearings that covers technology not raised at the original trial. But recently,

she has been inclined to allow the material under the caution that she may

ultimately decide it is not relevant.

On Tuesday she quoted a Supreme Court ruling that "drafting an antitrust

decree involves predictions," in turning down Microsoft. Schwartz was the

13th witness called by nine states seeking tough antitrust remedies against

Microsoft for illegally maintaining its Windows monopoly.

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The nine states have rejected a proposed settlement of the case reached

between Microsoft and the US Justice Department in November.

Bitter rivals



Sun, a fierce rival of Microsoft, has long accused the world's biggest software
company of trying to sabotage Java. Microsoft, in turn, accuses Sun of promoting

the government antitrust suit to gain a commercial advantage. Microsoft

maintains Java is a product threatened by its own shortcomings rather than any

anti-competitive behavior by Microsoft.

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Spokesmen for Microsoft released a statement Tuesday accusing Sun of trying

to slow down the .NET initiative because the company is "late to the game

on Web services." The states want antitrust sanctions requiring Microsoft

sell a "modular" version of Windows with add-on "middleware"

features that are removable. They argue the requirement would give computer

makers have a free-hand to customize the machines they sell.

After Schwartz, Princeton University computer science professor Andrew Appel

took the witness stand and told Kollar- Kotelly it was "technically

feasible" for Microsoft to create a modular version of Windows. Microsoft

has argued that it is impossible for the company to make a modular version of

Windows and says the states' sanctions would force it to withdraw the operating

system from the market.

The states' remedy would be a boon to Sun in particular because it would

require Microsoft to include Java in the Windows operating system. Microsoft

eliminated Java from Windows for the first time last year when it rolled out the

new Windows XP operating system.

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Schwartz said the so-called "must-carry" Java provision would

ensure that computer users and developers have an alternative to Microsoft's

.NET service. The states' proposed remedy also would ensure that Microsoft fully

discloses information on .NET so that competitor's services can work well with

it, he said.

Microsoft contends remedies in the case cannot go beyond specific wrongdoing

upheld by a federal appeals court last year, mainly that Microsoft tried to

crush Netscape's Internet browser in an effort to preserve the Windows monopoly.

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Passport feature



Schwartz reiterated complaints from other Microsoft competitors that the company
is using the Passport security software in .NET to exclude potential

competitors. The Passport service is designed to allow computer users to sign in

once and then move among participating Web sites without doing so again.

Schwartz said Microsoft has been withholding information about the inner

workings of Passport and other .NET software so that competitors cannot work

well with servers that run on Microsoft software. Microsoft attorney Steve

Holley tried to show that Schwartz was biased against Microsoft, quoting a

series of news interviews in which he was sharply critical of the company.

"Part of your job responsibilities at Sun are to make critical

statements about Microsoft and Passport," Holley said. "My boss would

disagree with that job description," Schwartz replied. Holley also cited a

letter Sun wrote to the Justice Department last year suggesting a long list of

sanctions against Microsoft, some of which were similar to those the states have

proposed.

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