Microsoft, Antitrust Chief To Meet On Friday

The Justice Departments top antitrust official and his staff will meet with Microsoft Corp representatives on Friday to discuss a possible new antitrust case against the software giant, a person familiar with the case said yesterday.

Some in the Justice Department believe there is now enough evidence to bring a new case against Microsoft under the nations antitrust laws, according to the source.

In such instances, the assistant attorney general currently Joel Klein traditionally has met with representatives of the company or companies involved so they may offer their views.

At the same meeting, the antitrust chief listens to the opinions of his staff, which may be divided.

 

Justice Department officials who favour bringing the case would like to do so as soon as possible, before the release of Windows 98, an update to Windows 95 that integrates the operating system and Internet capabilities more tightly than ever.

Microsoft is expected to release so-called gold code of the operating system to manufacturers by mid-May or early June to meet a targeted June 25 retail availability date.

Microsoft fell $3.06 to close at $89.94 in trading on Nasdaq, where it was the most active issue on volume of nearly 1.9 million shares, after a published report that the Justice Department might go ahead with a new lawsuit this month.

A Microsoft spokesman said the Redmond, Washington-based company remains confident Windows 98 will launch as scheduled on June 25.

We dont believe theres any scenario that would delay the release of Windows 98 with all of its Internet capabilities included, said the spokesman, Mark Murray. However, in an apparent signal that the company has softened its hard-line approach, Murray said Microsoft would be willing to negotiate with the Justice Department over any problems the agency has with Windows 98.

We would like to see these issues resolved and put them behind us, Murray said.

The Justice Departments Klein said last month he wants to carefully define any major case before he brings it to prevent litigation from dragging on for years. A federal lawsuit against computer giant International Business Machines Corp lasted for years before it was finally dropped.

So far, the Justice Department has not given Microsoft any indication of its view on Windows 98, Murray said.

In December, the antitrust regulators won a court order that forced Microsoft to offer computer makers a version of Windows 95 without any easy methods of access to its Internet Explorer browser. Murray said it was not clear whether the Justice Department would seek a similar option for Windows 98.

Justice Department officials sent out civil subpoenas known as civil investigative demands to some PC makers last week.

Justice hadnt spoken to the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in four or five months and they wanted to get fresh information, the person familiar with the case said.