Microsoft Corp’s bid for a six-month extension of the sweeping antitrust suits against it was refuted on Friday in US District Court. Judge Thomas Penfeild Jackson set a trial date of September 8, crushing Microsoft’s hopes of extending it until December, as it had requested last Thursday (CI No 3,416). Judge Jackson, in delivering his decision, said that if the trial waited until December, too many copies of Windows 98 would have been sold already, estimating that 16 to 18 million horses would be out of the barn by then. As anticipated, the Judge did, however, grant Microsoft’s request to consolidate the slew of nearly identical lawsuits filed by 20 states, the District of Colombia and the Justice Department. Microsoft also won a significant victory in that the Judge rejected the DOJ’s motion for a quick decision on the requested preliminary injunction. The injunction seeks to force Microsoft to either provide Windows 98 to PC makers with no browser – or bundle Netscape’s browser along with its own – and to allow PC makers to control what appears on the start-up screen, among with other things. DOJ lawyers argued that a decision on injunctive relief was needed during July or August, but the Judge stuck firmly to September 8 as the date for the next chapter of the story to unfold. On the question of time, there is apparently room to maneuver for Microsoft, as Jackson said he would listen to new arguments for a delay if the company began preparing for the September trial and could show convincing evidence that it could not suitably prepare in that time frame. July 28 was set as the date Microsoft must respond to the consolidated complaint and August 10 as the date it must respond to the DOJ’s request for a preliminary injunction. Justice Department is required to reply to the new Microsoft filings by August 24. The hearing marked the first time lawyers for the warring parties had faced off in court since the suits were launched earlier last week. At the hearing, Microsoft, upped the stakes by announcing that Windows 98 would ship sooner than anticipated, with computer makers shipping machines with the new OS as early as this week. Redmond also said it would launch retail sales of the software on June 15, and not June 25 as originally planned.
