The chief economist in Justice's antitrust division, Timothy F. Bresnahan, has compared the government's long court fight with Microsoft to a dog chasing a firetruck. Right down the middle of the street. Microsoft argues that any discussion of remedies is premature, given that Jackson has not yet issued a final judgment declaring that the company has broken the law. Complicating the remedies process is the fact that, unlike in many court cases, the government isn't looking to punish Microsoft. The Department of Justice is not, for instance, planning to seek fines against the company.
Monetary penalties are off the table.
It's very difficult, because every remedy you look at has some advantages but also some significant disadvantages. At the most extreme end of the remedies spectrum is a structural split of Microsoft, which could happen in one of three ways, according to economists who have been studying the issue. Microsoft could be carved horizontally into one company that would sell only Windows and another that would sell other Microsoft software products, such as word processors and spreadsheets. The third way would be to split Microsoft horizontally and then divide the Windows company vertically into two or more separate firms. A breakup, particularly the vertical split, arguably would be the most immediate and direct way to create competition in the operating- system market.