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Computergram International, February 19 Microsoft Corp will face Caldera Inc in court on January 17, 2000. The case
had been slated to start on June 7, but Microsoft's lawyers succeeded
in postponing the trial date for more than six months, presumably so that
the Redmond software giant could concentrate its attention on another
trial now taking place in Washington DC. The cases are not dissimilar,
and the similarities are unflattering to Microsoft, a fact which may have
contributed to the company's desire for a long delay. Caldera alleges
that Microsoft built proprietary and technically unnecessary "hooks" linking
Windows 3.1 to MS-DOS so as to kill DR-DOS, in much the same way that
the DOJ alleges Microsoft integrated Windows 98 with Internet Explorer
in a bid to crush Netscape's Navigator. Caldera's one crumb of comfort
is that Judge Dee Benson has said the January 17 date is solid and will
not move again. "We're disappointed," admitted Caldera president Bryan
Sparks, "we thought we could hold the original date." Sparks adds, however,
that this is a big case - Microsoft's own lawyers have estimated that
it will cost a billion and a half - and the trial date is, of course,
entirely at the court's discretion. Despite the delay, Sparks is confident
of ultimate success. "They can run but they can't hi de," he says. "We're
going to get them eventually." The nine summary judgement requests Microsoft
filed last week will be debated in open court from mid-April to May. Caldera's
rebuttals have to be in by the end of March. Microsoft wants the case
dismissed altogether. Caldera says all nine summary judgements should
be denied, and Sparks notes his surprise that these documents were so
detailed, considering how touchy Microsoft has been about confidentiality
in the past. In fact, a third matter which was also scheduled to be heard
Thursday was the San Jose Mercury News's motion requesting the court to
unseal Microsoft's confidential documents, but the judge didn't get around
to it. Sparks notes that another case intervened, with the defendant brought
in in chains. Thanks to the success of Microsoft's continuance motion,
that's about as much courtroom drama as Caldera can hope to see, for the
time being at least. This story reproduced by permission of Computergram International. For information and inquiries click on http://www.computerwire.com/computergram/?page=caldera.
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