The government, joined by 17 states, asked that the giant software company be split into one company to produce the Windows operating system and another to handle other software applications, like spreadsheets and databases. The proposal was submitted to U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson after the close of financial markets today. In advance of today's filing, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates had said consumers will suffer if his company is broken up by the government. We are confident that the appeals court will support Microsoft's position. Instead, consumers will be able to choose for themselves the products they want in a free society and competitive marketplace.
Gates has powerful allies.
The government plan also contained restrictions on Microsoft's business practices. The company also would be barred from designing software for the purpose of interfering with or degrading the operations of rival products. Under the government's proposal, one company would sell Windows, the operating system that runs most of the world's personal computers. Microsoft's browser, Internet Explorer, would be owned by the applications company, although the Windows component could license the rights to use the program, said one source who had seen a draft of the plan. The two companies wouldn't be able to recombine for 10 years.