Noorda wins points in Microsoft fight decks

Legal US court gives go-ahead for additional antitrust case.

Software company Caldera has won the first round in its legal wrangle with Microsoft over alleged restriction of its DR-Dos operating system.

Caldera, owned by ex-Novell CEO Ray Noorda, sued Microsoft in 1996 after claiming that its licensing policies restricted the ability of DR-Dos to compete against Microsoft Dos.

A district court judge in Salt Lake City, Utah said this week that Caldera can introduce the additional case against Microsoft that it tied Windows 95 too closely to Microsoft Dos, making it even harder for DR-Dos to compete.

But Microsoft has taken a stance in its fight against Caldera's antitrust case, saying that the issues opened up by Judge Dee Benson were investigated and found to be without merit some years ago.

The ruling is likely to mean that Caldera will pursue Microsoft for extra damages, in addition to the $2 billion it wanted when it originally filed the action.

That is because the ruling allowed Caldera to look at the period since Microsoft introduced Windows 95. Although DR-Dos still exists, its use is largely confined to the embedded software market.