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Yes, this will definitely go the Supremes (Court, not singers). The only question is when and via what route. The DOJ would like to take it there directly, with the SC being the hearer of Microsoft's immediate appeal -- which the S. Court can do at its discretion.

Microsoft, on the other hand, understandably wants to follow the lengthy appeals cycle through the Circuit Appeals court -- a conservative crew that has already ruled once in its favor -- before letting the inevitable Supreme Court decision happen.

Dates on all of this? The Supreme Court is recessed from June until October, so even if it agreed to hear the thing, it would be October at the earliest. In all likelihood it would demur on a fast appeal -- this is hardly in the national interest -- and ask for the decision to wend its way through appeals court.

So what does all of this mean? About the same as Puxatawney Phil seeing his shadow: a whole lot longer until we're out of this dark period -- either way.

P.
http://www.groksoup.com/pkedrosky

I know it's considered de rigeur 'round these parts to call for structural change. After all, the usual argument goes, it would be bad for Microsoft -- and whatever is bad for Microsoft must be good for Slashdot-ers ... right?

Wrong. I think a Microsoft broken into operating system, Internet tools, and applications would be a much more formidable competitor. No longer hamstrung by its reliance on legacy apps and a single operating system, developers would be free to push the MSXML DOM, for example, onto multiple platforms; it would put IE onto Linux; it would port Office apps to Linux and elsewhere.

A structurally altered Microsoft would be worth more -- not less -- on the market than the current monolithic Microsoft. I would even applaud it doing a Seagate and taking part of the company private in an LBO, do some tweaking and pruning, and re-emerge a few years later in a blaze of market capitalization.

Because free to innovate and chase opportunities -- as well as to better attract and reward engineers -- the company would once again be the worst nightmare of most of its competitors.

But a monolithic Microsoft, especially one stung by having to a) agree that it had done wrong, and b) sit under the eye of DOJ overseers, will be a mess.

Careful what wish for ...

P.
http://www.groksoup.com

As I wrote back at my site on this story, this was bizarre stuff. Three guesses why the Canadian regulator said what it said, and the first two guesses don't count.

P.
http://www.groksoup.com

As I wrote back at my site on this story, this was bizarre stuff. Three guesses why the Canadian regulator said what it said, and the first two guesses don't count.

P.
http://www.groksoup.com