The Department of Justice, desperate for any morsel that might help it nail Microsoft Corp for antitrust practices, is allegedly investigating a meeting between the company and Netscape Communications Corp held in May 1995, at which they supposedly discussed a Microsoft plan to carve up the internet software market between them. According to a report in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, if the meeting can be proved and then construed as Microsoft attempting to use its monopoly power to neutralize a potential competitor, then it can be used as another stick with which to beat up Microsoft in its ongoing investigation. To put this into some sort of historical perspective, the meeting was held three months before Netscape’s spectacular initial public offering and seven months before Microsoft’s public transformation into an internet company, in December that year (CI No 2,812). Internet Explorer first appeared in mid-August (CI No 2,732), about a week after Netscape’s IPO (CI No 2,725). The deal was apparently for Netscape to avoid the Windows platforms completely with its browser, in return for an investment from Redmond and a guarantee that Microsoft would not compete with Netscape on the other platforms. Netscape has already acknowledged that Microsoft sought to make an investment in it, but the carve-up part of the meeting is new, if difficult to prove, as it is not known if the DoJ has any documentation from either company to substantiate the claim. Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen described the meeting as like a visit from Don Corleone, the message being You either let us invest in your company or we won’t give you access to the technical expertise on how to write software for Windows. Microsoft disputes Netscape description of events, saying it gets more distorted and more fictional every day.
