Microsoft case a no-show at Comdex.

LAS VEGAS _ Linux is hot at the Fall Comdex trade show here this week, as are the previews of new ways to deliver the World Wide Web to digital phones and hand-held devices.

Sun Microsystems opened Java University and gave out tens of thousands of copies of its free StarOffice software. Even Bluetooth, an esoteric blueprint for standardizing wireless communications, created a fair amount of buzz.

What didn't generate much comment beyond a few jokes and offhand references was a federal judge's ruling that Microsoft Corp., the hub that Comdex has revolved around for most of this decade, is a monopoly that harmed competitors and consumers. Demonstrations and deal-making held much more allure than did debate over Microsoft's ultimate fate, or what might happen to the industry it wields such influence over through its Windows operating …