The action claims Microsoft over-charged customers for Windows 98 by setting the cost artificially high, and seeks $425m in damages.
E-mail is likely to form the basis of much evidence in the case, including a 1997 communication reportedly sent by Microsoft group vice president Jeff Raikes to billionaire Warren Buffet, seeking his investment in Microsoft.
Raikes told Buffet that some observers had likened Windows to a toll bridge adding the company is a 90%+ margin business. Buffet did not invest in Microsoft.
Among those on the witness list likely to testify are Microsoft’s chief software architect Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer.
The Nebraska case had been halted after a judge’s ruling that consumers could only bring price-fixing actions against companies from whom they directly bought a product. However, in a split decision on Friday, Nebraska’s supreme court ruled that under a state consumer protection act passed in 1997, customers may sue whether a good or service was sold directly or indirectly.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
