6 - 12 April 2000

Business as usual as Microsoft prepares for appeal

by David Kelleher

While analysts and computer experts around the world wait for the next move in the battle between the US government and Microsoft, the latter continues to do what is really knows best: selling its range of software and applications, in particular Windows 2000.

As part of its business development programme, Microsoft has gone one step further than many other companies selling their products. The company, through is OpenDoor series of seminars, presents the software to prospective clients to show the importance and need for businesses to adopt the new technology.

The latest product to come out of the Microsoft stable is Windows 2000, a marked improvement upon Windows NT and billed by the company as the product that will streamline all operating systems - whether on a stand-alone machine, as part of a server and ultimately on databases.

With this in mind, the OpenDoor seminars take Microsoft's products, internet development and advanced networking out to the IT community.

Microsoft OpenDoor 2000, the latest leg in what has become the Middle East's largest ever technology transfer exercise, opened on Tuesday in Malta. The new seminar series will visit 12 key Middle East markets with a series of information sharing sessions taking place over each two-day OpenDoor event: day one dedicated to sessions aimed at information systems management and day two to software developers.

"OpenDoor has been a key element in Microsoft's work with our customers over the past year, and has given us a highly effective forum to react to customer information needs," said Derek Kerr community development manager at Microsoft GEM.

"We are able to get valuable input from customers and at the same time react to that input by tailoring the content of sessions to customer needs."

For OpenDoor 2000, the team from Microsoft GEM is joined by key Microsoft partners Cisco Systems, Compaq Computer and New Horizons, as well as by long-time OpenDoor partner InFocus. "The active participation of Cisco, Compaq and New Horizons, in particular, brings great added value for delegates to OpenDoor, and extends the reach of the technologies under discussion," said Mr Kerr.

The new OpenDoor series features an in-depth focus on Windows 2000 and the new technologies and capabilities it brings to bear on the needs of businesses in the region, from network infrastructure through to developing new and exciting levels of Internet capability for organisations.

Windows 2000 brings dynamic new possibilities to the business of information management, delivering high levels of internet integration, stability, scalability and key international language support features."There are many aspects of

Windows 2000 which present great new opportunities to IT professionals in the Middle East, and we're aiming to cover these through OpenDoor 2000," said Mr Kerr.

"For instance, the language support in Windows 2000 means that companies can expect out- of-the-box support for documents in over 60 global languages, and opens up whole new possibilities for integrating global, regional and enterprise computing resources under a standard platform. The potential for Arabic computing and Internet development alone are enormous."

At the same time, the DirectAccess component of OpenDoor, a session dedicated to meeting the training and development needs of Microsoft resellers in each country, is focused on the development of e-commerce solutions, a track designed specifically to meet the burgeoning demand for effective, integrated e-commerce technologies across the region.

"DirectAccess is an important component of OpenDoor, and helps us to extend the work we do with customers directly by empowering our partners in each country to develop and grow the services they offer to customers," said Mr Kerr.

But while it may be business as usual for the company, Bill Gates and his team of legal experts will undoubtedly be preparing to appeal US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's finding that the company violated antitrust law.

And many analysts believe the company has a chance to overturn at least part of the decision because an appeals panel struck down a previous order from Jackson on the legal concept of "tying". In his Monday opinion, Jackson found that Microsoft illegally packaged its Web browsing software with its Windows 98 operating system, forcing consumers who only wanted Windows to also accept the Internet Explorer browser.

"Microsoft's decision to offer only the bundled - 'integrated' - version of Windows and Internet Explorer derived not from technical necessity or business efficiencies," Jackson wrote.

"Rather, it was the result of a deliberate and purposeful choice to quell incipient competition before it reached truly minatory proportions."

Throughout the case, Microsoft has argued that it integrated the browser into Windows 98 to make it easier for consumers to surf the Web. The US government has claimed otherwise, sayingMicrosoft illegally tied to the two products together to hurt the rival browser made by Netscape Communications Corp.

In December 1997, shortly before Windows 98 was released, the Justice Department convinced Jackson that Microsoft was tying two unrelated products together, and he blocked the launch. But a three-judge appeals panel overruled Jackson seven months later, saying that if any plausible benefits ensued from the linkage, the courts should not prohibit it. Microsoft was thus free to add the browser to Windows 98.

On Monday, Jackson firmly rejected that reasoning, declaring that the software giant illegally bolted the two products together to stifle competition and harm consumers. Knowing that the appeals court will be looking over his shoulder, Jackson took great care in crafting his "conclusions of law", relying on Supreme Court decisions that he said trumped the appeals panel.

An appeal could move directly from Jackson's court to the Supreme Court, bypassing the court of appeals entirely, although that's highly unlikely.

Either Microsoft or the government can ask the Supreme Court for an expedited appeal. Microsoft almost certainly will not do that, in part because its executives believe the appeals court is sympathetic to its position, while the Supreme Court is much harder to gauge.

The government has more reason to ask the Supreme Court for quick relief. The Justice Department believes a significant part of Microsoft's strategy involves delaying the case as long as possible in hopes that changes in the computer market or in the political landscape will mitigate the effect of any penalties imposed.

There is a danger, however, that the Supreme Court would refuse the request and bounce the case back to the appeals court. The government is more likely to ask for penalties that would go into effect before the appeals process was completed.

In practice, however, even if the government asks Jackson to impose such penalties and he agrees, Microsoft would almost certainly be able to get a stay from the appeals court pending a hearing on the matter.