Microsoft urges Novell to submit documents

Microsoft is seeking a court order for Novell to hand over sensitive information that would help in its legal case against the US Department of Justice.

According to US reports, Novell has failed to act immediately, unlike Sun Microsoft, Apple and IBM, which all passed on documents after demands last month.

The papers are kept under court order to ensure the information is not made public or seen by Microsoft.

The software giant is keen for other IT vendors to demonstrate how they have included internet access to their operating systems.

Novell and Microsoft refused to comment.

In another development, federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that Microsoft tried to keep Apple out of the multimedia software market.

The DOJ is examining information from Apple indicating that Microsoft executives approached Apple three times to convince the vendor to abandon plans to enter the Windows multimedia market. This was understood to be in exchange for an endorsement of Apple software tools, according to Apple lawyers.