The allegations arrive near the eve of a trial in U.S. District Court to determine whether Microsoft is using its dominance of the PC operating system market to control other markets, including the Internet, in violation of antitrust law. The U.S. Department of Justice and 20 states filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in May, and the trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 23.

Last year Digital was working with Oracle, Microsoft's archrival, on a prototype computer code-named Shark, which was targeted at the business and education markets, according to a story in The New York Times Thursday. Shark was based on the network computer standard developed by Oracle and other Microsoft competitors, and Gates pressured Digital's then-chairman Robert Palmer to drop the project, using as leverage Microsoft's intent to develop a version of Windows NT for Digital's Alpha processor, according to the Times.

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison said that when Digital's Palmer told him in August 1997 that the project was being cancelled Palmer refused to say why, according to the Times. But Ellison quoted Palmer as saying, "If I'm subpoenaed, I'll tell the truth," according to the Times.

Rebecca Sykes is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.