Attorneys General Team Up To Halt Win 98 Release

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April 30, 1998 (7:52 AM EDT)

Attorneys General Team Up To Halt Win 98 Release

By Christine Casatelli,

The attorneys general from 13 states are closing in on Microsoft to stop the upcoming release of Windows 98, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Meanwhile, resellers are starting a letter-writing campaign to save the software launch.

The states reportedly involved in the Microsoft investigation are New York, Ohio, California, Texas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, West Virginia, Florida, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, and Iowa. Three other states are monitoring the case, The New York Times reported.

The attorneys general are expected to issue a joint antitrust action in the next two weeks to stall the scheduled release of Win 98, slated for shipment to PC makers in mid-May and to the general public in June, the report says.

The antitrust charge expected from the states is likely to mirror the case already in progress against the company by the Justice Department. The attorneys general reportedly joined their own antitrust effort when they saw the Justice case would not move quickly enough to stop the Win 98 launch.

As early as last week, Vanstar president and chief operating officer Jay Amato urged corporate resellers to write letters to prevent a possible injunction that would delay or prevent the release of the new operating system.

The letter asks executives to contact state attorneys general and governors, along with the senate delegations of California, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, and Wisconsin.

-- CRN's Jerry Rosa and Barbara Darrow contributed to this report.