Netscape says MS plays dirty
Netscape Communications has charged Microsoft with antitrust violations in the software market.
In the past weeks, lawyers for both companies have exchanged heated letters over a Microsoft decision to limit the use of its Windows NT 4.0 Workstation software as a platform for Web servers. But, that's not the only issue that Netscape might try to use against Microsoft. Netscape's lawyer, Gary Reback, is investigating whether or not other antitrust complaints could be lodged against Microsoft.
"Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to turn over a whole mess of stones and see what crawls out," Reback said .
A well-known antitrust lawyer with Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, & Rosati, Reback has already designated himself Microsoft's nemesis by leading a successful fight against Microsoft's acquisition of Intuit on antitrust grounds.
Reback suggested that he would continue to scrutinize Microsoft's Internet deals for anticompetitive moves, including recent pacts that bundle access software for national Internet service providers such as America Online and Netcom directly into Windows 95 in exchange for the ISPs naming Internet Explorer as their default Web browser.
The first battle, however, comes over Microsoft's decision to limit the number of Internet users that can connect to its Windows NT Workstation operating system.
Yesterday, Reback sent Microsoft, as well as officials at the U.S. Department of Justice, a letter accusing the Redmond, Washington software company of deliberately preventing companies from using NT Workstation to run Web server applications such as Netscape's own FastTrack Web server.
Gina Talamona, a spokeswoman for Department declined to say whether the department's antitrust division had received Netscape's request for an inquiry. "We have had an ongoing investigation into the software industry," she said.
The accusation is that companies can no longer use NT Workstation, a less expensive version of the operating system, to run Web server applications because only ten users at a time can connect to the operating system. Instead, they have to use the pricier NT Server. Windows NT 4.0 Workstation costs $319; Windows NT 4.0 Server costs $1,129. Yesterday's letter from Reback was sent in response to a July 30 demand from Microsoft lawyers that Netscape stop comparing the price of its FastTrack server, which runs on NT Workstation, with Microsoft's Internet Information Server, which runs only on NT Server. FastTrack also runs on NT Server.
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