WASHINGTON – It's an innocuous word, just seven letters, and used every day to describe failed romances.
But "breakup" is also Microsoft's worst legal nightmare, and it might be taking a step closer to reality.
USA Today reported on Wednesday that government lawyers "appear to have reached a consensus approach that would propose a breakup" of the software colossus.
The idea seems to be something like this: Split Microsoft into at least two companies – one that would sell its Windows operating system and another that would handle its application software such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
But that just isn't the case, according to the US Justice Department, which along with some state attorneys general filed the antitrust lawsuit in 1998.
A spokeswoman said the USA Today report did not reflect the internal discussions taking place inside the agency.
"It's inaccurate in several important respects. It does not accurately represent our views," the spokeswoman told Wired News.
Beyond that, nobody close to the case seems to want to discuss details of the discussions. One thing that seems probable is a rift between the Feds and the states. The states originally filed a more sweeping lawsuit and scaled it back so the cases could be combined for trial. And inside the court, state prosecutors were more sweeping in their denunciations of Microsoft and chairman Bill Gates.
That means if the DOJ wants to settle, the state attorneys general could refuse to agree, and pursue their own case themselves.
Currently all three sides are meeting for sporadic settlement talks with Richard Posner, chief judge of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, who is acting in an unofficial capacity.
Even if the DOJ and the states do formally decide they want to try to break up Microsoft, they must make their case to US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson.
Microsoft has given every indication it will oppose any such request.
