Microsoft Ruling Expected At 4:30 p.m. EST Today

UPDATE - The high-tech world is getting ready to clear its previously scheduled activities for 4:30 p.m. EST today, when US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is scheduled to issue his final judgment in the Microsoft antitrust lawsuit. A court statement released this morning said that Jackson will issue his final order after Microsoft Corp. attorneys filed their last briefing in the case a day ahead of schedule.

Followers of the Microsoft case are anticipating that Jackson
will order that the company be broken up, possibly into two or more
separate companies focusing on operating system production, software
development and other businesses.

The Justice Dept. this month filed an amended breakup proposal,
which Microsoft immediately attacked as having made no more than
"cosmetic" changes to its original plan, though Microsoft had made
a variety of suggestions relating to the company's possible
"divestiture," its euphemism for "breakup."

The court filing said that the decision will be made available in
paper form at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal District Courthouse,
where the trial took place, and in the shadow of the US Capitol.
The courthouse is located at 333 Constitution Ave., N.W.

Electronic copies also will be made available at the Government
Printing Office Web site, http://usvms.gpo.gov.