“The Justice Department and 17 states stuck by their original
plan Friday to break up Microsoft into an operating-system company
and applications company to encourage competition. The Friday
filing made only minor technical changes.”
“Microsoft will have 48 hours in which to respond to the
government’s final say on the remedy. The software leader has
already termed any breakup “extreme.” U.S. District Judge
Thomas Penfield Jackson is expected to rule on a remedy as early as
next week.“
“In its brief, written in the form of a decree, the Justice
Department added language clarifying that the operating system
company and applications company may license technologies — other
than middleware products — to each other on a non-discriminatory
basis, if such technologies are not offered as separate
products.”