Netscape users denied entry to MS online brief

MS lodges retaliatory brief to anti-trust case, posts it on Website - and only Explorer can access it.

Netscape browser users were denied justice last week when they found- and only Explorer can access it. themselves unable to access the document Microsoft filed with the US District Court, after the software giant had posted it to its Website.

Microsoft filed a 48-page brief, claiming that the US Department of Justice's (DoJ) anti-trust case against it was intended to prevent it from improving Windows and should be thrown out. But to read the document, users found they had to revert to Microsoft's own Internet Explorer browser.

A Microsoft representative claimed that the problem was caused by a missing seven-character coding tag that a member of the team had accidentally omitted. He insisted that the glitch was sorted within two hours of being discovered.

Meanwhile, Bill Neukom, Microsoft senior vice president, said he did not expect the DoJ anti-trust action against it to affect the planned release of Windows 98 in the second quarter of next year. This is despite the fact that Internet Explorer version 4 is scheduled to be integrated into the software, an issue that lies at the heart of the DoJ's move.

Microsoft's brief was filed on the same day that Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and chief executive, attested that if the DoJ got its way, Windows would be forcibly split into several incompatible versions.

His announcement was in response to the DoJ's decision last month to hold the software giant in contempt of court, and charge it $1 million a day for requiring PC manufacturers to license and distribute Internet Explorer if they wanted to license Windows 95.

Microsoft said in its brief that it retained 'unfettered freedom' to add new functionality to its operating system and that the browser was simply another feature of that.