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To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (22854)	3/2/1999 4:08:00 AM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 24154

More opinion.......There's very little evidence that the consumer has been hurt," he said. There's a big hurdle to face that whatever the judge decides does not result in higher prices for consumers, Gerson said. "Consumers have an integrated operating system, we're not paying for the browser, and we've paid a constant cost while the system has gotten better and better," he said. If the judge breaks up Microsoft, consumers may have to pay more for pieces of software, Gerson said. Justice faces a "careful-what-you-ask-for" dilemma, said Bill Whyman, Internet strategist at Legg Mason Precuror Group, in Washington, D.C. "Limited conduct remedies to change behavior may be legally sustainable on appeal and politically safe, but may not be effective in creating competition. Stronger structural remedies, like a company breakup, may restrain Microsoft, but not survive appeal and would subject Justice to intense heat," Whyman said. Justice and the states have put together an advisory group to develop an appropriate remedy, he said. Probably the most workable remedy is selective divestiture or line-of-business restrictions -- such as Microsoft selling its browser, Whyman said. That would allow an alternative platform to Windows and break the link between Windows and Internet applications, while requiring less oversight, he said. Most likely, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson will rule that Microsoft follow a code of do's and don'ts in leveraging its OS, Gerson said. The key is to what extent Microsoft may be required to open its source code, he said.