Item Subject: cc:Mail Text News.Com reports "The Justice Department charged today that Microsoft (MSFT) has violated terms of a 1995 consent decree governing its licensing practices. "In asking a federal court to hold Microsoft in contempt of the decree, the department is seeking a fine of $1 million a day from the software giant." Even if that holds, Microsoft can hold out for, let's see... well, as long as it wants. "To make the charges stick, Justice must prove that the operating system and the browser are two separate products." Wasn't it Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun, who coined the statement, "The network *is* the computer"? It would be almost funny, given the current tensions between Sun and Microsoft, for Mr. McNealy to be called as a witness on Microsoft's behalf. Details are at <http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,15418,00.html> DOJ press release: <http://www.news.com/SpecialFeatures/0,5,15420,00.html> Microsoft response: <http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/press/1997/Oct97/doj.htm> --Glenn Cole Software al dente, Inc. [log in to unmask]