Email threatens Microsoft stand in DOJ investigation

Dispute VP correspondence points to considered use of monopoly power by Microsoft.

Microsoft's legal wrangle with the Department of Justice (DOJ) waser by Microsoft. dealt a blow last week when an email appeared to show the software giant using its Windows monopoly to push Internet Explorer.

Filed with the court on 20 November by anti-trust regulators, the email, dated 20 December 1996, was sent from senior Microsoft VP Jim Allchin to Paul Maritx, now group VP at the vendor.

The message stated: 'The current path is simply to copy everything Netscape does, both packaging and product-wise. My conclusion is that we must leverage Windows more. Treating Internet Explorer as just an add-on to Windows, which is cross-platform, is losing our biggest advantage - Windows market share. We should think about an integrated solution - that is our strength.'

Allchin also admitted that he did not see how Internet Explorer was going to win market share unless it was sold on the back of Windows.

The documentation appears to back up the charges by PC manufacturers that Microsoft intended to use its monopoly to dominate the browser market.

Manufacturers had claimed that Microsoft was threatening to withhold its products from them if they did not pre-load Internet Explorer onto their hardware (PC Dealer, 29 October). Microsoft has refuted the charges, claiming that Internet Explorer was an integrated part of Windows since July 1995.

A representative at Microsoft played down the impact of the email, claiming that the DOJ had misinterpreted it. He also claimed that the documentation did not address Microsoft's argument.

Microsoft has ended a dispute with the European Commission, after it dropped clauses within a contract with SCO. Under the contract, drawn up in 1987, SCO was required to include Microsoft code in future versions of the Unix operating system and pay royalties whether or not the code was used.