As expected, the Justice Department has widened its antitrust case against Microsoft Corp, offering new evidence as to how the company acted in a monopolistic fashion to discourage competition. The new accusations come in a hard-hitting 89-page brief filed in response to MicrosoftÆs request last month that the case be thrown out due to factual errors and an earlier apellate ruling that it was free to bundle its broswer with an operating system. The DOJ filing contains allegations that Microsoft attempted to pressure Intel Corp, Apple Computer Inc, Intuit Inc and RealNetworks Inc into conforming with its plans to eliminate the potential threats posed by competition in various software markets. The government contends that the company tried to force Intel and Intuit into not doing business with browser rival Netscape Communications Corp and offered to more or less split the multimedia software market with Apple. It also says that Redmond approched RealNetworks in a similar manner, attemting to coerce the company into sharing information about its streaming technology. Further, the DOJ alleges that Microsoft entered into a series of anticompetitive agreements with customers and competitors in an effort to dissuade market acceptance of Sun Microsystems IncÆs Java. The document also asserts that Microsoft officials have been less than cooperative in their dealings with federal investigators and attorneys. It charges that Microsoft chief Bill Gates diplayed a particular failure of recollection at his deposition last week.
