Reports that the talks were unlikely to succeed before a ruling could hurt Microsoft's stock today, analysts said. Last week shares soared on reports that negotiations had picked up. The talks have been influenced by the perceived failure of a 1995 consent decree to rein in Microsoft's anti-competitive business practices and what the government attorneys have described as Microsoft's repeated and flagrant antitrust violations. Microsoft has denied that it breached the spirit or the intent of the decree. Government negotiators seem particularly leery that Microsoft's detailed proposal submitted last week was loaded with loopholes and hidden escape clauses meant to neuter any deal, sources said.
Settlement is probably unlikely.
Another government concern overshadowing the talks has been upholding a consent decree. This becomes a tricky issue should a settlement involve complicated proposals, such as changing the way Microsoft makes available parts of its Windows code to software developers. The software companies need the coding, called application programming interfaces, to determine how to make their programs run on Windows. Jackson ruled that Microsoft delayed providing interfaces to punish rival Netscape Communications Corp. after its officials refused to divide the market for Internet browsers. Devising a way to uphold a deal could be perilous politically for the government.