“The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) stuck to its guns today,
making no change in its recommendation that Microsoft Corp. be
split in two – despite trial Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson’s
not-too-subtle suggestions at a hearing Wednesday that he liked a
plan to divide the company three ways.”
“The government filed a revised brief this afternoon in U.S.
District Court here, as Jackson had requested on Wednesday (see
story). However, the new brief didn’t make any major changes to the
earlier proposal, made by the DOJ and 17 of the 19 states involved
in the antitrust case, to divide Microsoft into two companies – one
focused on its operating systems, the other on its
applications.”
“But the government did criticize Microsoft’s last-minute
request that it be allowed to call six more witnesses, including
company Chairman Bill Gates, to counter the government’s breakup
recommendation. In its brief, the government called Microsoft’s
request – which Jackson rejected on Wednesday – “a cynical ploy
calculated to raise diversionary issues on appeal.”