The Microsoft Conundrum
Yahoo | at | by Mike
Negotiations in the Microsoft antitrust case started this week under a deadline of Nov. 2. But the obstacles to a settlement loom large, and both sides have reasons to resist. Although the Justice Department announced last month that it would no longer seek a breakup of Microsoft or pursue the claim that the company's bundling of its Internet browser with its Windows operating system was illegal, it is seeking restrictions that Microsoft has refused to accept in the past.
The Microsoft camp reads the appeals court ruling fairly narrowly. George L. Priest, a Yale law professor and a consultant to Microsoft who is not involved in the settlement talks, said: "I don't think information disclosure should be on the table, and since the government has dropped the tying claim, what you have left is mostly getting rid of some of Microsoft's contract restrictions with PC manufacturers."