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Show Tuesctatf, October 20, 1998, THE DAILY HERALD, allprjoo (DyoiTEiinionft By TED BRIDIS Associated Press Writer U Ti . WASHINGTON Government .) lawyer! opened their landmark v antitrust trial against Microsoft Corp. on Monday by accusing the software t :, titan of a carefully crafted, barred campaign to illegally "crush" a v,, rival company. The hard-cortactics alleged by the , government included Microsoft using .j. ita money and influence as the maker of the hugely popular Windows system to intimidate computer makers and entice other companies to distribute Microsoft's own Internet over that of Netscape j, software , Communications Corp. 1 The contended government launched its war with ",t Microsoft , Netscape after a controversial June 1995 meeting at which Microsoft ,., allegedly proposed, unsuccessfully, to divide the market for Internet soft-.- , ware, Microsoft has denied ever mak-,- i ing auch an offer, which would be ille-gal under antitrust laws. "What you see is a consistent pattern of Microsoft doing this, using its monopoly power, using its leverage, using everything it has," Justice lawyer David Boies told U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. Microsoft's lawyers were expected to make their opening arguments w a a m m 4& U':' w s l Gates urged his executives to nifcie a deal with Netscape. "I think there is a very powerful deal of some kind we can dowith Netscape," Gates wrote, suggesting that Netscape executives "agree to do certain things in the (browser market). . I would really like to see like that happen." Boies also showed a Gates message, written before the Netscape meeting, in which Gates said: "We could , even give them money as part of the, ceal, buy a piece of them or something,,, Microsoft said the government ook Gates' words out of context. "The government once again,ohas based its entire case on tiny excerpts spokesman Mark Murray said ty), an interview. "The facts will show.'hat Microsoft did not in any way fr to divide the market with Netscape." In written testimony unsVled Monday, Netscape's chief executive James Barksdale, "'said officer, Microsoft's executives promised"Ymr-inthe June 1995 meeting thaf"we can have our special relationship if Netscape agreed not to compete Wthe unfolding market for Microsoft's r.ihiv. : (l m m m no-hol- , Pi v seme-thin- e oper-atin- g . lucrative Windows system that it acted unfairly to guard it. operating TYLER MALLOW In court: Microsoft lawyer Bill Neukom day of the Microsoft antitrust trial. meets The government used videotape excerpts from pretrial interviews with Microsoft's billionaire chairman, Hill Gates, to try to show him Monday as reluctant to discuss the meeting, which he did not attend. On the tape, made last August, Gates denied that he instructed his Trial begins in smokers' Associated Press Writer Midmorning recess at Paris' Victor Hugo High School: usually a time for gossip, a few laughs, and a cigarette. But it wasn't that way Monday. "What are you hanging around for, girls? There's a strike meeting in the courtyard!" i. Recent walkouts in this nation have earned y major concessions for truckers, transport workers and airline pilots, to mention a few. Now, high school students have their moment in the spotlight, and they're determined to make the most of it. For too long, many 6ay, they've suffered from overcrowded classrooms, a lack of teachers, outmoded equipment and badly planned schedules. And for once, they want the world to focus on them. On Friday, a day after a half-millio- n students marched throughout France, embattled Education Minister Claude Allegre promised to hire more teachers and modernize facilities. He repeated that pledge Sunday night. But that wasn't enough for most students, who plan another nationwide protest today. "We all know that ministers often promise things and then never do them," said Peschaud, 14. "Why a strike? Well, we know that's what works in this country." As she spoke, her fellow students at Victor Hugo tried, with middling success, to organize Anne-Juli- wmi oixi e The first lawsuit brought by smokers against the tobacco industry went to trial Monday with the plaintiffs' lawyer accusing cigarette companies of trying to confuse people about the dangers of smoking. As many as 500,000 6ick Florida smokers are seeking $200 billion in damages from the nation's five largest cigarette makers. "The evidence will show, ladies and gentlemen, that this is an industry that has never accepted their responsibility for corporate responsibility the devastating health consequences caused by cigarettes," lawyer Stanley Rosenblatt said in his opening statement to the MIAMI PARIS strike-happ- talking with him about the possibility of investing in Netscape. "Somebody asked if it made sense investing in Netscape," Gates said, adding that he had disagreed. But Boies then produced internal Microsoft documents written days before the 1995 meeting in which divide the software market with Netscape; "I wasn't involved in setting up the meeting. ... I'm not aware of such a thing, and it's very much against the way we operate." Jn another video clip, Gates said he barely remembered one of his workers Associated Press Writer a Vp teen-ager- J A( 01 1 S BRINON the Auoualed Press strike: High school students gather outside the Victor Hugo High School in Paris on Monday for a strike organization meeting. On themselves. "Who's ready to start the strike right now?" shouted three leaders, who stood on chairs at one end of the courtyard. "We are!" everyone shouted back. "And who's ready to occupy the school all night'.'" the leaders shouted. This time, there were only unenthusiastic groans. sit-iwas declared. An Students sank to the ground, en masse. But it lasted only an hour; the courtyard was too cold. "Of course we're not very organized, like other strikes" said Mong-Houe- i Lui, 18. "But that's the beauty of our movement. It's spontaneous." Students at Victor Hugo concede they don't have it so bad. The sch(K)l is in the po.sh Marais district, where stunning d all-da- y n 17th-centur- mansions mix suburbs? It's pure misery." Still, the students have complaints. Partouche said there are 39 kids in his class, "and the last three to arrive never get a seat." And students say their schedules are too heavy and badly planned. "I have to be here from 8 'til 6, but I have a hole of three hours with no classes," said Alexandre Baillot, also 16. "It's silly." The students also said they have old equipment, terrible gyms, and no place to study alone. Such complaints have been largely supported by high school teachers, who want the same improvements the students do. But not all teachers are eager to march in the streets. wit r- SERVING CENTRAL MOST ALL OF UTAH WITH FREE MOBILE SERVICE i UP TO Rosenblatt read from the ajfl,, He also accused the industry of trying to get children addicted. rlt "The essence of the conspiracy and fraud of these defendants has been to get smqkers hooked on nicotine as young as possible and make lifelong"ctls-tomer- s of them," Rosenblatt said, noting smoking arntfhg youths increased 73 percent between 1988 and 1996. "As smokers get older, as smokers die, as smokers 'b,uit g full-pag- e because they're sick, or"'for other reasons, there is only one source of replacement smokers and that is kids," he said.-" HOMEGROWN IIAI11 IT'S NATURAL jury. The only previous lawsuit against the industry to make it to trial was that of flight attendants who claimed secondhand smoke made them sick. In that case, also handled by Rosenblatt, the tobacco industry agreed to a $300 million settlement to establish a research foundation. The tobacco industry has also agreed to pay four states a total of $37 billion to settle law-- , suits over the costs of treating sick smokers. Florida was among those states, but nothing in its settlement prevents rette smoking is one of thm," individuals from suing. Claiming the tobacco companies conspired to defraud consumers, Rosenblatt told jurors of experiments at the Memorial Cancer Center in New York City in which researchers spread tar from cigarette smoke on the backs of mice, and about half got malignant tumors. When the news came out in a 1953 article, the tobacco industry responded with a ad appearing in more than 400 newspapers that cast doubt on the research and noted there are many ways of getting cancer. 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Intel Intel Intel Intel Intel OFF YOUR WINDSHIELD PRICE 'CALL FOR DETAILS COUPON FOR class-actio- A.R.O.M.A. COMPUTERS valuable: coupon USE THIS im The government contends that after Netscape rejected the offer, Microsoft sought to limit the main ways that Netscape distributed:4ts software, through computer makers and Internet providers including America Online, the nation's largest Internet provider. fcxpes8IO98 ultra-chi- c - class-actio- n y with boutiques. Sch(xl conditions are much better than in poorer neighborhoods or in some troubled suburbs. "Yes, it's pretty good here," admitted Vanessa Guillon, 16. "But we're doing this in solidarity with others who are worse off. Have you seen schools in the the first proposal." executives to make an illegal offer to By TRACY FIELDS Adrian Partouche shouted to his friends Vanessa and They may be angry about their schools, but these French s have clearly learned one lesson from their elders The Assotiaied Press with reporters outside federal court in Washington on Monday after By JOCELVN NOVECK when no one 6eems to be listening, strike. Microsoft made clear that- if Netscape didn't agree, "Microsoft would crush Netscape, using its system monopoly," Barkadale wrote, describing the offer as "something I had not ever seen happens in my more than 30 years of experience. ... I left the meeting stunned ilthat Microsoft had made such an explicit - Students cherish their moment in the limelight Mong-Houe- " Windows 95 software. ! 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