-Caveat Lector- Microsoft Must Alter Software in Blue Mountain Suit NewsBytes 29-JAN-99 SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1999 JAN 29 (Newsbytes) -- By Matt Hines, Newsbytes. The latest ruling in Microsoft Corp.'s [NASDAQ:MSFT] ongoing lawsuit against greeting card vendor Blue Mountain Arts will require the software giant to change its Outlook Express e-mail product. Thursday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, Judge Robert Baines told Microsoft that he was not satisfied with the company's attempt to answer to Blue Mountain's complaints. The greeting card maker filed suit against Microsoft in December, claiming that an antispam tool built into beta versions of the developer's Outlook Express 5.0 diverted online greetings sent by Blue Mountain customers. Blue Mountain has alleged that Microsoft only added the feature after it launched its own electronic greeting card service through its MSN network. The program in question automatically funnels Blue Mountain's greetings into a junk mail folder Yesterday's court ruling officially extended a temporary restraining order which Baines filed against Microsoft at the end of December. That ruling required the software vendor to show Blue Mountain how to bypass junk mail filters in beta versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Thursday, Baines ruled that since Microsoft has not been forthcoming in helping Blue Mountain fix the issue, it must now change Outlook Express so that the problem no longer persists. Microsoft officials said today that Outlook Express is shipped with the antispam function turned off and that the tool can only be used if a buyer chooses to turn it on. Representatives from the company said they were disappointed with Baines' latest ruling. "We felt that we had made the necessary changes ordered by the court so the ruling was surprising," said Tom Pilla, a Microsoft spokesman. "We thought that since we had offered the same product all along, the most rational solution was for Blue Mountain to change its greetings, as the court had said. In the end, it seems that this ruling will punish users by changing a technology which could have greatly benefited a lot of people, by giving special treatment to one company." Pilla said that Microsoft was considering its options and may file an official appeal of the ruling before changing Outlook Express. If the firm agrees to the extended injunction next week, it will have 30 days to alter the product. Blue Mountain spokesmen said the company was pleased with the latest development. "They've been fighting us tooth and nail all the way," said Jared Schutz, vice president of business development at Blue Mountain. "When the original injunction was won, Microsoft said it would help us get around the filter but our cards are still ending up in the junk mail." Schutz said while Microsoft has openly agreed that its electronic greetings do not constitute unwanted spam mail, the company has done nothing to clear itself from suspicions of using an unfair strategy. "We felt that it was a remarkable coincidence that our greetings had no problem getting through until Microsoft had launched its own electronic greeting business," Schutz said. "We're just glad that this is getting worked out in court before Outlook Express gets distributed to a wide user base." Microsoft was also ordered to warn all Outlook Express users of the filtering issue when the original restraining order was filed on December 21. Baines told Microsoft to create a visible note of the problem on the front pages of MSN. Reported By Newsbytes News Network, http://www.newsbytes.com ================================= Robert F. Tatman [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Remove "nospam" from the address to reply. NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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