Microsoft will NOT be broken up

Bard

Well any of us could have told you that ! :rolleyes:

From Sky News feature:

Computer giant Microsoft looks unlikely to be broken up after the US Justice Department announced it would no longer be pursuing the move.

The news comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia had upheld another court ruling that the company held a monopoly in the PC operating systems market and used illegal tactics to defend it.


However, the appeals court reversed a judge's order that Microsoft, headed by billionaire Bill Gates, be split in two as an appropriate remedy for the violations.

The Justice Department has now announced that it will try to find a remedy to the three-year-old case "as quickly as possible".

'Abuse of monopoly'

It comes as the state legal officials and Microsoft had been ordered to work out a proposal on how further proceedings should be structured.

The new judge who had been assigned to handle the case, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, last month told them to report on the remaining issues in the legal battle by September 14 and scheduled a meeting on the status of the case for a week later.

She will still hold hearings to decide what sanctions to impose on the software giant to prevent future abuse of its monopoly in personal computer operating systems.

'Less threatening'

She had also been set to consider whether the company violated the law by tying its Internet Explorer browser into the Windows operating system.

The Justice Department said that pursuing the break-up claim "would only prolong proceedings and delay the imposition of relief that would benefit consumers."

A Microsoft spokesman said only that company officials "remain committed to resolving the remaining issues in this case."

The statement initially pushed the company's shares higher but the stock later fell. Parker/Hunter analyst Kimberley Caughey said: "I'm a little surprised at the move. I wouldn't say that it removes the dark cloud from over Microsoft, because anything could happen in settlement talks. But it makes that cloud a little less threatening."

dahamsta

Jeez Bard, talk about behind the times man. That was announced days ago!

adam

Trojan

also chk my post about NY (which wont be doing anything for a couple of months most likely) and CA

Al.