Sun Exec Says Microsoft .Net A Monopoly Threat

Sun's chief strategy officer Jonathan Schwartz said unless tough antitrust restrictions are imposed on Microsoft , it can use its Windows operating system monopoly and dominant Internet Explorer Web browser to promote .Net over competitors like Sun's Java programming language.

"Microsoft can exploit that control to bias and direct users to its services in preference to competitors' services," Schwartz said in written testimony to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

Schwartz says Microsoft's "track record" of obstructing Java, a cross-platform Internet programming language, and the Netscape Navigator browser demonstrated its ability to exercise this power.

Schwartz was the 13th witness called by nine states seeking tough antitrust remedies against Microsoft for illegally maintaining its Windows monopoly.

The nine states have rejected a proposed settlement of the case reached between Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department in November.

Sun, a fierce rival of Microsoft, has long accused the world's biggest software company of trying to sabotage Java.

Sun vice president Richard Green was the states' first witness at the remedy hearings.

Microsoft, in turn, accuses Sun of promoting the government antitrust suit to gain a commercial advantage. Microsoft maintains Java is a product threatened by its own shortcomings rather than any anti-competitive behavior by Microsoft.

A Microsoft World?

"The Internet is largely built on open standards, but Microsoft's control of the ubiquitous operating system combined with its ownership of the dominant browser and promotion of .Net Passport means that it could lock end users in to a Microsoft-controlled world," Schwartz says.

The states want antitrust sanctions requiring Microsoft sell a cheaper, stripped-down version of Windows so that computer makers have a free-hand to customize the machines they sell.

The states' remedy would be a boon to Sun in particular because it would require Microsoft to include Java in the Windows operating system. Microsoft eliminated Java from Windows for the first time last year when it rolled out the new Windows XP operating system.

Schwartz says the so-called "must-carry" Java provision would ensure that computer users and developers have an alternative to Microsoft's .Net service.

The states' proposed remedy also would ensure that Microsoft fully discloses information on .NET so that competitors's services can work well with it, he said.

Schwartz says the provisions in the Justice Department settlement are "limited, ineffective and fundamentally flawed."

Microsoft contends remedies in the case cannot go beyond specific wrongdoing upheld by a federal appeals court last year, mainly that Microsoft tried to crush Netscape's Internet browser in an effort to preserve the Windows monopoly.

Passport Feature

Schwartz reiterated complaints from other Microsoft competitors that the company is using the Passport security software in .NET to exclude potential competitors.

The Passport service is designed to allow computer users to sign in once and then move among participating Web sites without doing so again.

Schwartz says Microsoft has been withholding information about the inner workings of Passport and other .NET software so that competitors cannot work well with servers that run on Microsoft software.

The remedy hearing is expected to go at least through May. Kollar-Kotelly is still considering wether the proposed settlement of the case is in the public interest.

Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

Reuters shall be not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.