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Microsoft Judge Renews Support for Sun Plan

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Bloomberg News

The federal judge overseeing private antitrust suits against Microsoft Corp. voiced more support Wednesday for Sun Microsystems Inc.’s request to force the world’s largest software maker to include Sun’s Java programming language in its Windows operating system software.

U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz said he “could see the theory” that Microsoft gained “an unfair advantage” in the software market by impeding Sun’s distribution of Java, conduct found illegal in the U.S. government’s 4 1/2-year antitrust case against Microsoft.

Sun accuses Microsoft of intentionally creating incompatibilities with competitors’ products. The Santa Clara, Calif., company says antitrust violations by Microsoft forced other companies to distribute or use products incompatible with Java.

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Microsoft attorney David Tulchin said Sun was trying to “engineer the marketplace” in seeking a preliminary injunction to force inclusion of the Java language in Windows, the operating system that powers more than 90% of the world’s personal computers.

Motz opened the three-day hearing in Baltimore Tuesday by praising Sun’s plan, calling it “attractive” and “elegant.”

Economist Dennis Carlton testified Wednesday that Microsoft documents show the Redmond, Wash., software giant understands that widespread distribution of its .Net Framework language will help it overcome Java and dominate the market for Internet services software.

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“You have to attain sufficient distribution so you can attract [software] developers,” Carlton said. “As more applications are written to one platform, that increases the demand for that platform.”

Motz interjected: “It was Microsoft’s business plan.”

Microsoft shares fell 17 cents to $56.54 while Sun shares slipped 11 cents to $3.76, both on Nasdaq.

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