Microsoft could be heading for further trouble with the US
Department of Justice after it announced plans to provide business
messaging services over the Web.
Eric DoyleEven before Microsoft unveiled its Hailstorm Web services on
Monday, Sun Microsystems and AOL Time Warner were registering
complaints with US antitrust regulators. The companies claim that
Hailstorm and other elements of the .net strategy shut out
competition to increase Microsoft's domination of IT markets.
Hailstorm is an extension of Microsoft's Passport - currently a
consumer-oriented, Web-based e-mail and instant messaging service -
to make it more attractive to businesses. The final service, due to
launch next year, would provide Outlook messaging features. Part of
the service would be provided free but some elements would be paid
for.
Sun and AOL say that Microsoft's operating systems will have
built-in features to take unfair advantage of the service.
eric.doyle@rbi.co.uk