Microsoft has announced it is to work with AOL Time Warner on Internet-based media and technology.
In a move signalling the end of a 16-month anti-trust suit, Microsoft has said it will pay AOL $750m to settle the suit and will begin working together to create a larger market for digital media on the Internet.
Under the terms of the settlement, AOL won the option to use the software giant's flagship digital media software as well as its Internet Explorer technology for Web browsing on a royalty-free basis for seven years.
Microsoft also said it would open data from 'beta' or trial versions of its Windows operating software to AOL and let the company help develop the next generation of Windows, known by the code name 'Longhorn'. Competing messenger services will also be opened to each other.
The AOL antitrust lawsuit, filed in mid-January of 2002 called for monetary damages as well as for competition to be restored in the market for Web browsers.
