WINDOWS 98 HELD; MICROSOFT OKS DELAY; SUIT TALKS TO CONTINUE.Byline: Joel Brinkley The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Less than an hour before state and federal governments were set to file sweeping antitrust suits against Microsoft Corp., the company announced Thursday morning that it would postpone the release of its new operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. , Windows 98, for three days so that settlement talks could proceed. The Justice Department had scheduled a noon news conference to announce its new suit, and attorneys general from several of the 20 states that were going to file a joint action had flown to Washington to stand with the U.S. attorney general, Janet Reno Janet Reno (born July 21, 1938) was the first and to date only female Attorney General of the United States (1993–2001). She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11. , for the announcement. Court documents had been drafted, press releases printed. It was only then that Microsoft, demonstrating the steel-nerve brinkmanship brink·man·ship also brinks·man·ship n. The practice, especially in international politics, of seeking advantage by creating the impression that one is willing and able to push a highly dangerous situation to the limit rather than concede. that has marked its negotiating strategy and spurred its growth over the years, called a cease-fire. As lawyers waited at the courthouse with the filings in hand, Microsoft offered several significant new concessions in its marketing practices, and both sides immediately took steps to allow the talks to continue. The Justice Department and states agreed to delay their filings, and Microsoft announced that although ``all work on Windows 98 has been completed,'' initial shipments to computer manufacturers, scheduled to begin today, would be delayed until Monday. Plans to begin selling the new operating system in stores June 25 have not changed, the company said. Microsoft and Justice Department lawyers actually had been talking for the past week, but as often has been the case in the ongoing battle over Microsoft's business practices, the two sides Thursday offered very different views of those talks. Mark Murray, a Microsoft spokesman, said many of the concessions offered Thursday had been offered over the course of the discussions. But a senior government official said Microsoft had been unwilling to make significant concessions until the last moments, when lawyers for the two sides spoke by phone. Microsoft stock closed up 2-5/8 at 89 9/16 on Thursday in heavy trading. Officials and executives involved with the talks said Microsoft on Thursday suggested a general willingness to modify or abandon several of its marketing and presentation arrangements that prosecutors find objectionable. The company might, for example, drop demands that computer manufacturers feature Microsoft products to the exclusion of competitors' products. It might also modify the terms under which its programs must be displayed on computers. But, these people said, the company remains steadfast in its refusal to modify the programs itself - or to stop adding additional features to its operating system. Most notably, it insists that its Internet Explorer Microsoft's Web browser, which comes with Windows starting with Windows 98. Commonly called "IE," versions for Mac and Unix are also available. Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser on the market. It has also been the browser engine in AOL's Internet access software. , the browser software that enables users to view the Internet's World Wide Web, is an essential part of Windows. KEY DATES Key dates in the antitrust investigation of Microsoft Corp., the largest maker of personal computer software: 1975: Microsoft founded by Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953 in Seattle, Washington) is an American entrepreneur. With Bill Gates, he formed Microsoft. and Bill Gates (person) Bill Gates - William Henry Gates III, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, which he co-founded in 1975 with Paul Allen. In 1994 Gates is a billionaire, worth $9.35b and Microsoft is worth about $27b. , friends who had co-written a programming language for the Altair hobby-kit personal computer a year earlier. 1980: IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) selects Microsoft to create an operating system for its first PC. The software, which runs the machine's basic functions, is called MS-DOS MS-DOS in full Microsoft Disk Operating System Operating system for personal computers. MS-DOS was based on DOS, developed in 1980 by Seattle Computer Products. Microsoft Corp. bought the rights to DOS in 1981, and released MS-DOS with IBM's PC that year. . 1991: Federal Trade Commission begins to investigate claims that Microsoft monopolizes the market for PC operating systems Operating systems can be categorized by technology, ownership, licensing, working state, usage, and by many other characteristics. In practice, many of these groupings may overlap. . 1993: The FTC FTC See Federal Trade Commission (FTC). deadlocks on two votes to file a formal complaint against Microsoft and decides to close the investigation. Justice Department and European Commission European Commission, branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU) invested with executive and some legislative powers. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it was founded in 1967 when the three treaty organizations comprising what was then the European Community antitrust investigators begin independent probes. July 1994: Microsoft in a consent decree A settlement of a lawsuit or criminal case in which a person or company agrees to take specific actions without admitting fault or guilt for the situation that led to the lawsuit. A consent decree is a settlement that is contained in a court order. agrees to change contracts with PC makers and eliminate some restrictions on other software makers, ending the U.S. antitrust investigation. The Europeans also end their antitrust probe. August 1995: Microsoft launches Windows 95. November 1995: Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 2.0 for Windows 95, giving it away in a challenge to Netscape's competing Navigator. September 1997: Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 4.0 in a stepped-up challenge to Netscape, whose share of the browser market slips to fewer than two-thirds of Internet users. October 1997: The Justice Department sues Microsoft, alleging Microsoft violated the 1994 consent decree by forcing computer makers to use its Internet browser as a condition of selling its popular Windows operating software. Dec. 11, 1997: U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson Thomas Penfield Jackson (born January 10, 1937) was a United States District Court Judge for the District of Columbia. He was appointed in 1982 after serving as president of the District of Columbia Bar Association. He is currently an attorney with the Jackson and Campbell, P.C. in Washington issues a preliminary injunction A temporary order made by a court at the request of one party that prevents the other party from pursuing a particular course of conduct until the conclusion of a trial on the merits. A preliminary injunction is regarded as extraordinary relief. forcing Microsoft to stop, at least temporarily, requiring manufacturers who sell Windows 95 ``or any successor'' to install its Internet Explorer on PCs. May 5, 1998: Microsoft asks a federal appeals court to rule that Jackson's Dec. 11 preliminary injunction imposing restrictions on Windows 95 ``or any successor'' do not apply to Windows 98. May 12, 1998: The appeals court agrees that the Dec. 11 injunction should not extend to Windows 98. May 14, 1998: Microsoft agrees to delay shipping Windows 98 for several days while it negotiates with the government in an attempt to forestall antitrust lawsuits. - Associated Press CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, 2 charts, box PHOTO (1 -- color) Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman, shown in September 1997, has indicated a new willingness to deal. (2 -- color) Initial shipments to computer manufacturers of Windows 98 that were scheduled to begin today will be delayed until Monday. Dwayne Newton/Associated Press Chart: Microsoft domain (1) Worldwide operating system market share (2) Microsoft's market share in personal computing software Box: Key dates (see text) |
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