Server vendors in 'crippleware' row

Bitter wrangling between Netscape and Microsoft will lead to fresh investigations by the Department of Justice after the companies complained about each other.

Corporate lawyers at Microsoft wrote to Netscape complaining that a price comparison chart it compiled gave misleading pricing. Robert Gomulkiewicz, a senior corporate attorney at Microsoft, said Netscape's price comparison was unfair and deceptive.

The complaint goes to the heart of a dispute over a price difference between NT Workstation and NT Server. Gomulkiewicz accused Netscape of deceiving customers by saying NT Workstation was intended to be a server OS for a Web site. 'It is not,' he said. 'We demand Netscape immediately cease and desist from further publication.'

Netscape lawyer Gary Reback responded vigorously to Microsoft's demand and sent a letter of complaint to the Department of Justice claiming MS had breached anti-trust laws by limiting the amount of Net connections that could be made from NT Workstation software.

He described NT as 'crippleware' and said it made users sign licensing agreements limiting the number of users to 10.

The row came to a head after Microsoft bundled the latest version of its Web server with NT Server. But it was not just Netscape which complained; O'Reilly & Associates has also joined the fray.

CEO Tom O'Reilly said MS is trying to scupper any independent Web server vendor. He is on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and is a member of the Internet society.