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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1998)
] ER 21,1998 Microsoft paints itself as underdog WASHINGTON (AP) - Technology giant Microsoft Corp. portrayed itself at its antitrust trial Tuesday as an underdog racing to play catch-up when it entered a then-new market for Internet software. Microsoft hit back at government claims that it illegally used its influence as the maker of the dominant Windows operating system - the cen tral nervous system crucial to most personal computers - to try to dominate other markets, such as the one for Internet software. The company’s conduct against rivals was tough but legal, Microsoft’s lawyer John Warden said as he outlined the defense case in his open ing statement in the landmark antitrust case. “Antitrust laws are not a code of civility,” Warden said. The outcome of the trial - expected to last six weeks - could determine much about the future of the computer industry at a time when it is increasingly important to virtually all aspects of modem life. Microsoft’s biggest rival for Internet soft ware, Netscape Communications Corp., enjoyed almost 90 percent of the market and earned $45 million from the software in 1995. The company was co-founded by Marc Andreessen, who helped invent the software, called graphical browsers, which let people view information on the Internet. “Netscape had what the government would consider a monopoly in the market for Internet 66 Netscape had what the government would consider a monopoly in the market for Internet browsers until the great Satan, Microsoft, came along” John Warden counsel for Microsoft browsers until the great Satan, Microsoft, came along,” Warden said. Microsoft argued that its immensely suc cessful business strategy was legal - to build browser technology directly into its Windows products, to entice the nation’s largest Internet companies to distribute its browser rather than Netscape’s and to prohibit computer-makers from removing easy access to its browser in Windows. Since then, Netscape’s market share has fall en to roughly 50 percent but it is giving the browser software to private consumers for free. The government contends Microsoft’s behavior violated federal antitrust laws because Microsoft was motivated to bundle its browser within Windows to hurt Netscape. Microsoft, though, insists that its browser in Windows was “not an add-on, like a flash on a camera or a car radio, but like a shutter on a cam era or a car’s transmission.” Microsoft on Tuesday questioned the gov ernment’s first witness, James Barksdale, Netscape’s chief executive officer. In written testimony unsealed late Monday, Barksdale wrote that Microsoft sought to “crush” his company after he rejected an offer during a controversial June 1995 meeting to ille gally divide the market for Internet software. But Warden said Microsoft made no such illegal proposal, saying Netscape either “con cocted” a story about an illegal offer or it was the result of a “fantasy (that) arose from the naivete of Marc Andreessen,” whose notes from the meeting are government evidence. The government showed e-mail Monday from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, written days before the 1995 meeting, saying: “I think there is a very powerful deal of some kind we can do with Netscape.” Pre-arrest, dictator LONDON (AP) - Margaret Thatcher entertained former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet at her home two weeks before he was arrested at a London hospital, the ex-prime min ister’s office said Tuesday. The report came amid growing diplomatic and domestic controversy over the arrest, which Chile has strong ly protested. vowed to fight j^l^^^^ibxtradite him to Spain on allegations of murder, genocide and torture, had drinks with Lady Thatcher and her husband, Denis, in their home in London’s elite Belgravia district four days before he was hospitalized for back surgery per formed Oct. 9. “She regarded it as a private meet ing,” said Mark Worthington, spokesman for Lady Thatcher, the Conservative Party prime minister from 1979 to 1990. The 82-year-old Pinochet was arrested Friday at a Spanish magistrate’s request Judge Manuel Garcia Castellon, who has been investigating the killings and disappearances of 15) to 4,000 peo ple in Chile during Pinochet’s 1973-90 dictatorship, will hand over his files to fellow National Court magistrate Baltasar Garzon, lawyer Joan Garces said It was Garzon’s international arrest order, detailing the alleged killing or disappearance of 94 people, that British authorities acted on in arresting Pinochet. Garces said Garcia Castellon’s decision could add 4,000 names to the list Thatcher and Pinochet have long had warm relations. Pinochet was the only Latin American leader to support Britain in its 1982 war against Argentina to reclaim the Falkland Islands. The current visit is Pinochet’s first since Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labor Party administration was elected 18 months ago. Chile’s ambassador delivered a for mal protest to the Foreign Office on Monday, saying Britain has violated Pinochet’s diplomatic immunity. Britain says diplomatic immunity is reserved for accredited diplomats or foreign government officials on official visits, which doesn’t cover Pinochet Pinochet’s 17-year rule was marked by torture and other human rights abus es against political opponents in which, the Chilean government has said, 4,299 people were killed or vanished. He remained Chilean army commander-in chief until March. Questions? Comments? Ask for Ihs appropriate section editor st (402) 472-2588 ore-maildn@unl.edu. ,1400 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Editor: Erin Gibson Managing Editor: Chad Lorenz Associate News Editor: Bryce Glenn Associate News Editor: Brad Davis Editor: KueyKober Editor: Cliff Hicks Editor: Sam McKewon A&E Editor: Bret Schulte Copy Desk Chief: Diane Broderick Photo Chief: Matt Miller Design Chief: Nancy Christensen Art Director: Matt Haney Online Editor: Gregg Steams Asst Online Editor: Amy Burke General Manager: Dan Shattil Publications Board Jessica Hofmann, Chairwoman: (402) 466-8404 Professional Adviser: Don Walton, (402)473-7248 Advertising Manager: Nick Partsch, (402)472-2589 Asst Ad Manager: Andrea Oeltjen Classifieid Ad Manager: Mami Speck WWII compensation BONN, Germany (AP) - Reversing German policy, the new center-left government pledged Tuesday to set up foundations to com pensate World War II slave laborers and “forgotten victims” of the Nazis. Chancellor-elect Gerhard Schroeder said no concrete plans or figures had been set for either fund. “But we want to do something together with industry” to compensate former slave laborers, he said. “We’ve already started thinking about it” Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, called the announcement “a significant turn ing point” for the German govern ment which had long insisted it was not responsible for slave laborers. “There are blanks in Germany’s otherwise honorable efforts to deal with Holocaust victims, and this is a good way to fill them,” he said of the “forgotten victims” fimd. For years German firms argued the government, as legal successor to the Nazi regime, should be responsible for back wage claims. But recently some of Germany’s biggest firms have sug gested they would be willing to con tribute to a publicly administered fund. Outgoing Chancellor Helmut Kohl had rejected any government involvement, saying companies are 66 “There are blanks in Germany s otherwise honorable efforts to deal with Holocaust victims and this is a good way to fill them” Elan Steinberg executive director of the World Jewish Congress responsible for back wage claims. Schroeder said German firms that used slave labor during the Nazi era have “a historical, moral duty to ful fill.” But he also stressed that they have “a need for protection against legal action that we have to guarantee.” Volkswagen and electronics giant Siemens have announced plans sepa rately to establish their own funds to compensate former slave laborers forced to work for them by the Nazis during World War n. The two companies, along with Krupp, Daimler-Benz, Audi and BMW, are among those named in a New York lawsuit seeking a portion of company profits for thousands of former slave laborers. The coalition agreement, signed by Schroeder and die small Greens party, also calls for a new government foundation to compensate “forgotten victims” of Nazi injustice. Joschka Fischer, Greens party leader and designated foreign minister, said they included homosexuals perse cuted under the Nazis, as well as Gypsies and other groups excluded from making claims under current law. Since World War II, the German government has paid billions in com pensation for health damage and imprisonment. Islam leader questions Jews' loyalty to UJ5. WASHINGTON (AP) - Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said the Clinton administration’s Middle East policy could be compromised by Jews who advise the president “Every Jewish person that is around the president is a dual citizen of Israel and the United States of America,” Farrakhan said Monday during a news conference at the National Press Club. “And sometimes, we have to raise the question, ‘Are you more loyal to the state of Israel than you are to the best interests of the United States of America?”’ Farrakhan mentioned by name National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and outgoing presidential adviser Rahm Emanuel, although none is a citizen of Israel. During his speech, Farrakhan also urged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not to yield to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Middle East peace talks that were occurring on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. U.S. trade deficit stahds at highest level in history WASHINGTON (AP) - America’s trade deficit hit an all-time high of $16.8 billion as the global financial crisis pushed down exports of manu factured goods and farm products for a fifth straight month. Imports surged, led by a flood of cars and auto parts from Mexico and Canada and toys from China. The deficit for August jumped 15.3 percent above a revised July imbalance of $14.5 billion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Exports fell to their lowest level in 19 months as the global financial crisis continued to depress demand in key markets for American producers. Sales of farm products dropped to their lowest level in more than four years. So far this year, America’s deficit in goods and services trade is on track to set an all-time record at $165 bil lion, far above the previous mark of $153 billion set in 1987. High school students protest for more teachers in Paris PARIS (AP) - Under, die eye of police, high school students around France held their second major protest in less than a week Tuesday, demand ing more teachers, better equipment and buildings and a lighter course load. Troublemakers, undaunted by at least 4,500 police, threw rocks and bottles in sporadic violence during a Paris protest, mimicking problems during Thursday’s demonstrations. Police said 85 people were lightly injured in Paris. At least 45 young peo ple were arrested nationwide, and dozens of others were detained and then released. Students were hoping to maintain die momentum of last week’s marches of a half million students in nearly 350 cities, but it appeared they had failed. Radio reports said a quarter-mil lion demonstrated nationwide. Police said about 25,000 students marched in Paris. Banners reflected angry students’ demands: “No promises. Action!” read one in Bordeaux. “No teachers, no future!” read a Paris banner.
