BY EUN-KYUNG KIM
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Microsoft took the offensive Wednesday at its antitrust trial, accusing IBM of recruiting its largest rivals into a plan to cripple the software giant's influence.
The plan, the Microsoft attorneys contended, involved Java, a computer language that lets programmers write software that can run on many different operating systems - something Microsoft feared could make its dominant Windows operating system obsolete. Microsoft is facing government accusations of participating in anticompetitive acts such as trying to bully a competitor into dividing the market for Internet software.
During cross-examination of IBM executive John Soyring, Microsoft attorneys introduced an August 1997 e-mail from IBM software executive John Thompson. The memo outlines projects involving Java that would "put Microsoft on the defensive." Among its recipients were Scott McNealy, chairman of Sun Microsystems, which created Java, and Jim Barksdale, chief executive officer of Microsoft's chief rival, Netscape Communication Corp.
In another e-mail from May 1998, IBM executive Rodney Smith wrote about how Sun and IBM could work together, writing: "The whole context for this meeting is a 'closer' joint working relationship to ensure we can win against Microsoft."
Microsoft attorney Steve Holley suggested that in addition to Sun and Netscape, IBM also invited executives from Oracle, Novell and Apple to join the efforts.
"Do you think it's appropriate, Mr. Soyring, for six of the largest software companies in the world to agree with each other to collude with one another against Microsoft?" Mr. Holley asked.
Justice Department attorneys objected to the question, and U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson sustained the objection. Throughout questioning, Mr. Soyring maintained he wasn't aware of any agreements among companies to compete jointly against Microsoft.
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