That's the question a federal judge in Baltimore will consider on Tuesday at a hearing on the company's billion-dollar antitrust settlement of private, class-action lawsuits.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz will have to decide whether the settlement proposed by the company is a creative solution that will put computers in the hands of poor school children or a legal ruse that will further the company's dominant position in the computer business.
Microsoft says the private settlement is a civic-minded way to resolve more than 100 lawsuits filed around the country on behalf of customers allegedly overcharged by the company.
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