Bristol Technology Inc maintains that the terms of the WISE Windows source contract Microsoft Corp asked it to sign in 1997 were unacceptable despite rival Mainsoft Inc CEO Ivor Share’s claim that the terms were reasonable. Bristol is suing Microsoft in a private antitrust lawsuit which claims Redmond tried to squash it by using its monopoly power. The terms of Mainsoft’s agreement have been seen by Bristol and the court. Bristol alleges Microsoft played with it for more than two years in which time they tried to negotiate terms for new WISE contract. Microsoft had no intention whatsoever of drafting anything Bristol could ink. It drove Bristol to litigation.
Although several companies – including Insignia, Locus, AT&T, Citrix, Mainsoft and Bristol – all signed three-year WISE agreements 1994, only Mainsoft picked up a new contract that Microsoft put on the table in 1997. Bristol says that instead of offering access to the NT source code technologies that would enable each to continue building their bridges enabling Windows and NT programs to run on Unix, Microsoft offered what was less a than a collection of holes. Insignia and Locus have been all but ruined by the experience, Bristol says, while AT&T went to court and won damages against Microsoft.
Bristol says Share’s comments (reported yesterday) clearly show he is trying to save his business. Today Bob Kruger’s video testimony will be shown in court. Kruger was Microsoft’s negotiator on the first WISE contracts. He now works for BMC Software. Bristol CEO Keith Blackwell takes the stand in the afternoon.
