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To: StockHawk who wrote (9071)	10/28/1999 10:39:00 AM
From: Jill	Respond to of 54805

Antitrust bar sees Friday verdict for Microsoft By William L. Watts, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 7:39 PM ET Oct 27, 1999 NewsWatch WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- The antitrust bar is circling Friday as the most likely day for the federal judge in the landmark Microsoft anti-trust trial to release the first part of his two-phase verdict. The court last week said the eagerly awaited ruling will come on "a Friday" evening at 6:30 p.m. ET, but didn't specify an exact date. Since then, speculation has mounted that this Friday, Oct. 29, will be the day. Hillard Sterling, a Chicago-based technology and antitrust attorney with the firm Gordon & Glickson, said "everybody is expecting that this Friday will be the day," but noted there have been no concrete indications from the court that a ruling will indeed be issued. If the ruling comes this Friday, it will be sure to lead to volatility in Microsoft shares (MSFT: news, msgs) on Monday, just as the world's largest software company is added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average as part of a revamp of the famed market index. Microsoft fell 1 1/2 Wednesday to close at 90 7/8. William Kovacic, a professor at George Washington University Law School, said a decision this Friday would still give U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson enough time to make substantial progress on his conclusions of law before the end of the year. Jackson has never issued any sort of timetable for the case, but kept the trial moving at a pace considered speedy by antitrust standards. The courtroom phase of the trial began last October. Jackson has undoubtedly been poring over thousands of pages of testimony, evidence and briefs since final oral arguments were heard more than a month ago on Sept. 21. The findings of fact will detail what the judge feels was proved or left unproved in the trial. The U.S. government and 19 states accused Microsoft of wielding a monopoly through its Windows personal computer operating system. Prosecutors charged that the company ruthlessly mowed down competitors and bullied its partners in an effort to preserve the alleged monopoly. Microsoft has steadfastly denied that it holds a monopoly and has accused the government of doing the bidding of jealous competitors. The court will notify Microsoft and the government that a decision is forthcoming at 4:30 p.m. ET on the Friday in question. The findings of fact will be released two hours later.