Microsoft may split three ways
■ iwoanti-Microsott
industry groups suggest that
the company split into three
— not t\yo — parts
By Michael J. Martinez
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A suggestion
by a pair of anti-Microsoft indus
try groups to divide the company
into three parts may have changed
the dynamic of the drawn-out le
gal battle over the government’s
attempt to break up the software
giant.
The proposal for a three-way
split, instead of the two-way
breakup suggested by the Justice
Department, came unexpectedly
in a packed courtroom. Company
lawyers flinched and observers
looked on in amazement as U.S.
District Judge Thomas Penfield
Jackson expressed his admiration
for the industry groups’ friend-of
the-court brief.
Now, the Justice Department
must decide how to play its next
card, with its revised breakup
plan due in Jackson’s court Friday.
The initial Justice Department
plan called for the breakup of Mi
crosoft into two pieces — one gov
erning the Windows operating
systems for personal computers
and large corporate servers, and
the other governing the popular
Microsoft Office suite, the Internet
Explorer Web browser and Mi
crosoft’s various Internet proper
ties.
The two industry groups, the
Software and Information Indus
try Association and the Computer
and Communications Industry
Association, supported the gov
ernment’s breakup plan, but sug
gested the judge go one step fur
ther by spinning off Internet
Explorer into a third company.
The groups noted that Jackson had
found Internet Explorer was a key
in Microsoft’s crushing of its com
petitors. The judge ruled April 3
that Microsoft violated antitrust
laws.
Alternatively, the industry
groups said, Microsoft’s Internet
Explorer browser could remain
with the applications company,
but the computer source code
used to create the browser should
be made “open source,” meaning
it would be part of the public do
main for anyone to use and alter
as they see fit.
“To allow a Microsoft successor
to use the browser as a point of
leverage (or a means of protection)
for its dominant applications suite
would reward Microsoft for its il
legal conduct, even if the benefits
did not accrue to the operating
systems business,” the groups said
in their brief.
Jackson took both sides by sur
prise Wednesday when he cut off
further debate on remedies against
Microsoft. He asked the Justice
Department to provide a revised
version of its plan, taking into ac
count issues brought up in court,
by Friday afternoon.
Microsoft stock fell 6 percent, or
by $4.06 1/4, to a 52-week low of
$61.50 a share at the close of regu
lar trading Thursday on the Nas
daq Stock Market.
Last month, Jackson found Mi
crosoft committed several viola
tions of the Sherman Act, the pri
mary federal antitrust law,
through anti-competitive acts de
signed to maintain its monopoly
over operating systems, the soft
ware used to run the basic func
tions of personal computers.
The Justice Department doesn’t
have to include the three-way
breakup option in its revised plan,
and DOJ officials would not com
ment on what revisions they
would make.
However, the judge can make
any changes he sees fit after the
department submits its plan. Mi
crosoft has until Tuesday to re
spond to the revisions, after which
Jackson could issue a final order
in the case at any time.
Herb Hovenkamp, law profes
sor at the University of Iowa and a
leading antitrust authority, said
Jackson could make substantial
changes in the government’s rem
edy proposal, including a wholly
different breakup plan.
“There is some Supreme Court
case law that suggests that all the
judge has to do in the initial stage
is order a breakup and state in fair
ly rough terms what that breakup
is going to be like and not worry
about the details,” Hovenkamp
said. “Then as you go through the
appeals process, and if the
breakup, in principle, is affirmed,
then the details can be worked out
later.”
Microsoft, however, is betting
that the U.S. Court of Appeals will
be a far more favorable venue. Mi
crosoft attorneys said that Jack
son’s refusal to allow additional
testimony on the breakup plan is
simply one more weapon in its ap
peals arsenal.
“This case will now be decided
at the court of appeals, and we
will be raising issues of procedure
in our appeal, as well as issues of
fact and law,” said William
Neukom, Microsoft’s general
counsel. Microsoft has promised
to appeal the case as soon as Jack
son issues his final order.
The two industry groups that
proposed the three-way breakup
have been a strong voice for Mi
crosoft’s competitors.
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Five slain, two harmed
in New York restaurant
■ Officers, who have yet to
find the killers, arrived after
the two survivors freed
themselves and called police
NEW YORK — Two men
walked into a Wendy’s restaurant
at closing time and bound, gagged
and shot five employees to death
during an apparent robbery. Two
other workers were wounded, one
critically.
One of the wounded workers
managed to call police after the
Wednesday evening shootings in
the Flushing section of Queens,
not far from Shea Stadium. Offi
cers using bloodhounds hunted
for the killers, described as two
men ages 18 to 20.
Arriving officers saw the two
wounded employees and broke
through the locked glass door to
• help them, Chief of Detectives
William Allee said at a news con
ference.
The other five were found in a
basement walk-in refrigerator,
their hands bound behind their
backs and their mouths taped
shut. Some victims had bags
placed over their heads. Four died
at the scene and the fifth died
soon after arriving at a hospital.
“We believe the motive was rob
bery,” Allee said. He would not
say whether money was taken.
Police said the gunmen entered
the restaurant just before its
scheduled closing time of 11 p.m.
Authorities said it took nearly two
hours for the two survivors to par
tially free themselves and call 911
from a basement telephone. Then
one helped the other up the stairs,
where they collapsed on the floor.
All seven workers — one
woman and six men, ranging in
age from 18 to 44 — were shot in
the head, authorities said. One of
the survivors was in critical con
dition, the other in stable condi
tion.
The Flushing neighborhood,
home to many immigrants, is be
lieved to have the second largest
Asian population in the nation
outside of San Francisco. The
restaurant is on bustling Main
Street, the hub of a community
that includes Koreans, South
Asians and Chinese.
“This is usually such a calm
neighborhood. We all live togeth
er peacefully here. This is very
shocking,” said Mathew Liu, 35,
who lives and works in the neigh
borhood.
A blue police van circled the
block today, broadcasting pleas for
help in identifying the gunmen.
Hundreds of curiosity-seekers,
many with shocked expressions,
jammed the sidewalks opposite
the restaurant, while police offi
cers tried to clear the area.
The murder rate in New York
City has risen 12.4 percent in the
first three months of this year after
plunging recently to levels not
seen since the 1960s. There were
667 murders last year, a dramatic
decline since the city’s all-time
high of 2,290 in 1990.
The Associated Press
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