Trial fans flames of Windows 98 sales

Microsoft's antitrust lawsuit has been set for 8 September amid reports that publicity surrounding the legal action has boosted demand for Windows 98.

Last week, lawyers had requested that the suit be delayed for seven months. The DoJ and the attorneys general of 20 states hoped to secure a preliminary injunction - forcing the vendor to unbundle Internet Explorer from the O/S - by 18 June, before the release of the software (PC Dealer, 27 May).

Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's decision to combine the separate prosecutions into one action, but not to consider the request for an injunction until the start of the trial, was seen as a compromise.

Resellers had previously expressed concern that legal action would adversely affect revenue during the traditionally quiet summer period. But the publicity created by the battle coupled with a confirmed June release created a surge in demand for the software.

US retailers CompUSA and Computer City reported that advance sales of Windows 98 and PCs loaded with the software have 'vastly exceeded' expectations.

Steve Bennett, chairman of Software Warehouse, said he has received more than 1,000 advance orders.

Bennett added: 'This shows Gates is a brilliant marketeer. How do you get a product on the Nine O'Clock News three nights in a row and fail to create publicity?'

Meanwhile Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems' chief executive, said the software giant should be forced to divest itself of its minority interests or be broken up.

At a lunchtime speech to the Boston Chief Executives Club, he said: 'You must divest yourself of all minority investments ... rather than buying, bundling and beating up on smaller competitors, who are actually trying to innovate.

'I would try divestiture as step one, and if it remained incorrigible, I would break it up. Not horizontally, but I would create three Microsofts,' he added.

See news analysis page 20.