US state attorney generals may file another legal action against Microsoft Corp over Windows XP.
Iowa Attorney General Mr Tom Miller, who organised the states' strategy in the current action, said: "Microsoft seems to be using much of its power to preclude competition on a new platform."
Mr Miller and Connecticut Attorney General Mr Richard Blumenthal said they are particularly concerned about Microsoft's plans to bundle new features into Windows XP and to offer new web-based subscription services.
"They certainly raise the prospect, if not the probability of the same dangers and potential harms that resulted from past practices that were proved at trial," Mr Blumenthal said.
Attorney generals from across the US are meeting this week in Vermont. They have heard from a group funded by Microsoft's competitors called ProComp, which includes Oracle, Sun Microsystems and Netscape, a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner.
A federal appeals court is reviewing the states' original lawsuit alleging that Microsoft competes unfairly.
Last year, US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered Microsoft to be broken in two for antitrust violations. He concluded the company unfairly tied its Windows operating system to its Explorer web browser to gain and keep a software monopoly.
Microsoft says any talk of additional litigation is premature because most of the products cited by critics are not even finished yet. It says its goal is not to monopolise but to give customers what they want.
PA