Microsoft 'wins' antitrust case

A federal judge has rejected calls from nine US states for tougher sanctions against Microsoft for its antitrust activities.

US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly approved the agreement Microsoft had made with the Department of Justice, but tightened it to reduce the software giant's control over the programs bundled with new Windows-based PCs.

In her ruling, Judge Kollar-Kotelly agreed with the nine states that server software is subject to the antitrust remedies, but denied their request to apply the regulations to Microsoft's mobile device business.

The judge agreed with Microsoft that a stripped-down version of Windows would jeopardise the company.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said in a statement that an early reading of the ruling did not reveal "anything that would be cause for an appeal".

Attorneys general for the states expressed satisfaction with the ruling, but did not rule out an appeal.

However, according to the Seattle Times Microsoft's competitors are furious.

An AOL Time Warner spokesman said in a statement that efforts to restrain Microsoft have produced results, but have not ended, and that AOL's Netscape division will continue its separate lawsuit against Microsoft.