Microsoft Error Blocks Netscape

WASHINGTON — Microsoft posted its court filing on the Internet Tuesday, but computer users initially could not read the documents using the Web browser of the company’s bitter rival, Netscape Communications Corp.

Instead, users had to rely on Microsoft’s own Web browser, Internet Explorer, to read the 43-page filing and supporting documents.

A Microsoft spokesman said the problem was a missing seven-character coding tag that inadvertently was dropped by a staff member who worked late Monday to prepare it for posting early Tuesday.

“It was completely inadvertent,” Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray said. “We wanted everyone in the world to see these documents immediately.”

Once the problem was discovered and diagnosed, it was fixed in about two hours.

The filing can be found at the Web page address https://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/11-10Filing.html