With two formidable opponents in the fight, this could become a donnybrook.

Symantec is suing Microsoft over the Volume Manager software it acquired in its Veritas purchase last year. The suit was filed yesterday in the Seattle district court.

The security firm is after Microsoft for unspecified damages and an injunction that could halt the release of Vista and the Longhorn server suite. The case relates to a 1996 contract between Microsoft and Veritas which licensed the latter’s software for dealing with large chunks of data.

Something tells me that this will be worked out sooner, rather than later. Though a final settlement may take a while, both sides have too much at stake to allow this lawsuit to significantly delay the release of the next generation of Windows. Look for a stopgap compromise while the lawyers hash over the fine points.

Source: The Register