12/05/95 -- (C) 1995 The Washington Post (LEGI-SLATE Article No. 243102)
 
                   U.S. Appears to Expand Probe of Microsoft
                                    Reuter
 
   NEW YORK, Dec. 4 -- Federal investigators appear to have expanded their
antitrust investigation of Microsoft Corp. to include how the company's new
Windows 95 computer operating system interacts with competitors' software
that provides tools for browsing the Internet.
 
      On-line providers CompuServe Inc. and Prodigy Services Co. confirmed
today that they had received subpoenas from the Justice Department for more
information regarding its investigation of the Redmond, Wash.-based computer
software giant.
       And a Justice Department spokeswoman said its investigation of
Microsoft is continuing, but she declined to comment further.
      Netscape Communications Corp. is also believed to be providing
information to department officials but declined to comment. Industry sources
said Netscape's Navigator -- one of the "browsers" that eases personal
computer access to the Internet's World Wide Web -- is disabled when users
try to use it while running Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system.
      "We have been contacted again by Justice and we know that the
investigation is continuing," said Brian Ek, a spokesman for Prodigy, a joint
venture of International Business Machines Corp. and Sears Roebuck & Co.
      Microsoft officials did not return calls seeking comment.
      Microsoft told the Wall Street Journal that the problem was caused by
weaknesses in the other companies' software and that it has helped rival
companies fix software problems that were mistakes.
      But some antitrust lawyers said that even if the the problem was
unintentional, the disruption is harmful to consumers.
      "When you have a monopoly power, certain obligations apply," said
Garret Rasmussen, an antitrust lawyer in Washington. "You are under duty to
make sure that your central product does not exclude a major competitor."
      Rasmussen cited a Supreme Court case that was used as an example in the
breakup of AT&T Corp., in which one railroad controlled the only bridge over
the Mississippi River and so access from St. Louis to all points east.
     "Here the bottleneck is the Microsoft operating system, which 80 percent
of computers have," the lawyer said.
      Last summer, the Justice Department began investigating complaints by
the on-line service providers that Microsoft had an unfair competitive
advantage by including its on-line service, the Microsoft Network, with
Windows 95. 
      CompuServe said it cannot comment on the civil investigation or any
specifics. But in answer to a question about how its Internet browser runs on
PCs running Windows 95, the company said that although its Mosaic browser can
work with Windows 95, CompuServe had to make changes.
     "It is not working as it should," a spokesman said. "We have had to
provide solutions on-line."
     A spokeswoman for NetCom Online Communications Inc. in San Jose, another
Internet access provider, declined to comment on the department's probe.
 
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