With Microsoft's inclusion of so-called smart tags and other technologies in the forthcoming Windows XP operating system, legal experts say the company is practising the same types of behaviour that got it in trouble in the first place.
"What we have here is a very aggressive, monopolist working way beyond what are appropriate standards for its activities," said John Soma, who was part of the US Department of Justice's legal team on the IBM anti trust case.
"The totality of all the technologies Microsoft is bundling and all the other initiatives it has introduced will effectively ... limit competition."
In addition, Microsoft is taking a risk by being so aggressive before the court rules on the pending antitrust case, Soma said.
If the Appeals Court sends the remedy portion of Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's ruling last year back to the District Court for review, as is widely expected, the DOJ and the state attorneys general will then be able to introduce new evidence -- specifically, evidence of Microsoft continuing to allegedly abuse its monopoly since the original verdict, Soma said.
The bundling of Windows Messenger into XP, the inclusion of smart tags -- a technology that can link other sites and services -- and the possible exclusion in XP of an encoder that would allow people to convert audio tracks from CDs to the MP3 format are issues that could be introduced by the Justice Department, he said.
Microsoft officials have denied any wrongdoing and said the company is innovating and giving customers what they want.
"Third parties can offer the same functionality in separate applications that can run well on Windows. I don't see how this in any way stifles competition," said Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan.
"Exactly how this [smart tags] technology will be utilised in the final product has yet to be determined."
