SYDNEY Software giant Microsoft is confident that legal battles in the United States will not delay the launch of its Internet-focused Windows 98 operating system or force the shipment of a browser-less version, a spokesman for Microsoft Australia said Tuesday. The Internet is an integral part of everything we are doing with Windows 98, Microsoft Australia product marketing manager Tony Wilkinson said Tuesday when promising that the June 25 launch date would be met.

Microsoft expects sales of Windows 98 to match or even beat those of the groundbreaking Windows 95 operating system because there are four times as many PCs running today that can run Windows 98 as were capable of running Windows 95 when it was launched three years ago. Microsoft's rivals are hoping that the U.S. Department of Justice will force Microsoft to offer PC makers a Windows 98 version that does not come with Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser attached.

Previewers in Australia question whether Windows 98 will replicate the success of Windows 95 because it incorporates many of the features that are already available in upgrades and patches to the 1995 offering. Industry observers also say that corporate users are likely to stay with Windows NT rather than shift to Windows 98, a program not aimed at business users. (DPA)