Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 12:00:15 -0500 (EST)
From: Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.org>
To: Caldera Users Mailing List <caldera-users@rim.caldera.com>
Subject: The Caldera lawsuit vs MS: alive and well


Personal note: This amendment appears to be fairly significant. 
Previously, the suit was only against practises related to MS-DOS;  now
Windows95 and 3.1 are part of the deal. 

At this point a settlement seems unlikely; November could be a *real*
interesting month.

- Evan

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL COURT ALLOWS CALDERA TO FILE AMENDED ANTITRUST COMPLAINT AGAINST
MICROSOFT

Nation's Only Private Antitrust Lawsuit Against Microsoft Adds Claim that
Microsoft Illegally Tied MS-DOS Into Windows 95


Orem, UT -- Feb 10, 1998 -- The Federal Court hearing Caldera's antitrust
lawsuit against Microsoft has agreed to allow Caldera to amend its
complaint and introduce evidence at trial that Microsoft illegally created
a technical tie of MS-DOS into Windows 95. Caldera claims that the
unnecessary technical tie of MS-DOS into Windows 95 artificially created
an impression that DOS on the desktop was dead. In court, Caldera will
show that this act and other practices illegally eliminated competition to
MS-DOS. This latest court decision allows Caldera to extend its claims of
illegal behavior and its request for financial damages to include both
historical and existing practices. With this amendment, the courts are
allowing Caldera to include consideration of Microsoft's Windows 95,
Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS market shares when calculating both the industry
effect of Microsoft's alleged monopolistic practices and the financial
damages being sought by Caldera. 

"This amendment to our antitrust case is not about the benefits or
features of Windows -- it is about an illegal tie of MS-DOS into Windows
95. We allege Microsoft created this illegal, artificial tie for the
dominant purpose of eliminating competition," said Bryan Sparks, President
and CEO of Caldera.  "The evidence we have to support this new claim
coupled with the evidence we have to support our other claims extends our
conviction that we will win." 

Caldera can demonstrate that Windows 95 runs on DR-DOS, Caldera's version
of DOS, demonstrating that no technological dependency exists between MS-DOS
and Windows 95. In court, Caldera will use this fact to prove that the
unnecessary tie between MS-DOS and Windows 95 is one of the many illegal and
predatory tactics Microsoft has used and continues to use to maintain its
desktop monopoly power.

In November 1997, the court denied Microsoft's motion to change the venue
of Caldera's trial from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Seattle, Washington. This
case is currently scheduled for jury trial in November 1998 in Federal Court
located in Salt Lake City, Utah.