Microsoft, Justice Down to the Wire
The Justice Department urged a federal appeals
court to deny a request by Microsoft that would allow the company to ship
Windows 98 on schedule next week.
Microsoft asked the appeals court on Wednesday to set aside parts of a
restraining order that prevented the company from forcing manufacturers to
take its browser as a condition for licensing its operating system.
That restraining order was appealed, but until a court says otherwise it
still stands, as it has now for five months. So it's hard for Microsoft to
suddenly claim an emergency when it could have sought to clarify the matter
back in December, as Justice was quick to point out in its brief to the
appeals court.
Calling the last-minute crisis over the release of Windows 98 "a self-generated hardship," DOJ point man Joel Klein made it clear that the
company should have asked a lot sooner if it really was interested in a
speedy answer.