Article Abstract:
The Government's pretrial depositions of Microsoft Chmn and CEO William H. Gates as well as 16 other company executives must be made available to the press, according to a Federal judge's order. Thomas Penfield Jackson of the Federal District Court in Washington, who is presiding over the Government's antitrust case against Microsoft, made the ruling in response to a motion filed by several news organizations. Gates was scheduled to begin his deposition today, but Microsoft's lawyers obtained a postponement while deciding whether to appeal Jackson's ruling. Microsoft is concerned that the deposition process might jeopardize its trade secrets and confidential business information, according to a company spokesman. Such public access is somewhat unusual in a significant antitrust case, but a similar precedent includes the Justice Department's case against IBM, which the Government halted in 1982.
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Article Abstract:
Sales of Microsoft's Windows 95 as a retail, shrink-wrapped product are slowing, but the operating system sells well when it is preloaded on new computer systems. Companies that gambled that consumers would buy additional hardware and software to support Windows 95 are losing money, although Microsoft profits remain solid. Windows 95 debuted with strong sales in Aug 1995, but by Dec 1995, sales had dropped two-thirds below the August figures. On the other hand, in 4th qtr 1995, analysts estimate that 9.9 million PCs were sold preloaded with Windows 95. Microsoft earns about $65 for each sale of a standalone copy of Windows 95 and about $35 for each copy sold preloaded in a PC. Microsoft's Windows NT is also selling well, and each copy of NT returns three times the revenue of a copy of Windows 95. Analysts estimate that in 1995, Windows 95 sold 16.4 million to 19.9 million copies globally.
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Article Abstract:
Officials of the Justice Department and Microsoft meet on Apr 10, 1998 in Washington DC, in an effort to come up with common ground in lieu of a court battle. The meeting is seen as a high-stakes antitrust poker game with the Justice Department playing a possible new antitrust case card and Microsoft taking its chances on a court case. Joel I. Klein, Justice's Asst Attorney General in charge of antitrust issues, is expected to discuss Microsoft's contracts with PC makers which have given rise to the charge that the software giant is using its dominance in the operating system field to give it an unfair edge over its competitors in such markets and online commerce and office productivity software. Microsoft's legal team is expected to counter that its marketing practices are entirely legal if fully understood.
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