Vendors browse beat Microsoft

Compaq, Gateway 2000 and Micron Electronics have testified to the US Department of Justice that Microsoft forced OEMs to bundle its Internet Explorer (IE) browser with the latest version of Windows 95.

Stephen Decker, the Compaq US executive responsible for software procurement, testified under subpoena that the software vendor threatened to revoke Compaq's licence to use Windows unless it supplied the IE icon on the desktop of the operating system.

Decker revealed that Netscape Navigator had been Compaq's browser of choice before Microsoft forced it to put Internet Explorer on the desktop.

The Department of Justice has filed a motion in the US Supreme Court alleging Microsoft is in breach of a 1994 Supreme Court judgement which forced it to refrain from anticompetitive practices, and will seek to impose fines of $1 million a day.

MS has responded by claiming IE and W95 are 'integrated products', which it has a right to market as a single entity.