With the dust settling over the US Department of Justice’s antitrust trial against Microsoft Corp, the fireworks are far from over. A hearing in another antitrust case is scheduled for this afternoon, June 29. US District Judge Dee Benson is scheduled to hear arguments over two more of Caldera Inc’s allegations that Microsoft engaged in anti-competitive behavior in its relationships with DR-DOS.
Caldera, which acquired DR-DOS from Novell Inc, alleges that Microsoft tied MS-DOS to Windows 3.1 to create Windows 95. Caldera also claims Microsoft created a black-list in order to deny DR-DOS developers access to a beta version of Windows 3.1. These hearings are only preliminary skirmishes. Microsoft wants the court to deal with Caldera’s allegations one at a time, but Caldera insists that they be taken together to demonstrate a pattern of anti-competitive behavior. Once these overtures have been dealt with, the real battle will begin on January 17, 2000, when Judge Benson will oversee a jury trial. Just what twelve impartial citizens will make of the complicated and highly technical case remains to be seen.
