Microsoft Tries Turning Tables on IBM

Microsoft Corp. took the offensive at its antitrust trial, accusing IBM Corp. 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. During cross-examination of IBM executive John Soyring, Microsoft attorneys introduced an August 1997 e-mail from an IBM software executive that outlines projects involving Java that would “put Microsoft on the defensive.” Among its recipients were the chiefs of Sun Microsystems Inc., which created Java, and Netscape Communications Corp. Soyring maintained throughout the questioning that he was not aware of any agreements among companies to compete jointly against Microsoft. On Tuesday, a federal judge in San Jose ordered Microsoft to rewrite parts of Windows 98 containing an altered version of Java that was found to be incompatible with software made by Microsoft rivals.