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Politics : Ask Michael Burke
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To: Earlie who wrote (47129)2/15/1999 10:39:00 AM
From: accountclosed  Read Replies (1) of 132070
 
U.S. govt. ponders remedies against Microsoft...But if the company were to lose at the trial level, sources familiar with the government's thinking say there are four possible alternatives. Two would make structural changes to the company and the other approaches would be more regulatory....The two structural solutions are:

-- Break the company into several identical ''Baby Bills,'' each of which would get complete copies of all of Microsoft's intellectual property. This approach has been endorsed by former Judge Robert Bork, who advocates breaking the company into three pieces.

-- Split the company into two very different parts: One that builds the Windows operating system and another that builds applications, such as Microsoft Office. But there are no clear boundaries between the operating system and applications, which could mean further wrangling.

In fact, Microsoft's decision to integrate a Web browser into its operating system is in contention in the trial -- with the company saying it is a part of the operating system, while the government says it is an application.

The two more regulatory solutions are:

-- Require licensing of the secret Microsoft ''source code'' to competitors. However, those familiar with such an approach say that the solution was less than fully successful when the Federal Trade Commission forced the Xerox Corp (NYSE:XRX - news). to license its copier patents in 1975. The government might find itself in endless tussles with the company over the costs and conditions for licensing. Microsoft might also make swift changes to its code before it licensed its products.

-- The weakest approach would be for the judge to issue orders prohibiting the company from continuing the business practices which the government contends are illegal. The government reached an agreement with Microsoft in 1995 to prohibit certain business practices, only to go into court in 1997 and allege that Microsoft had violated the agreement.

biz.yahoo.com

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