WINDOWS WATCHER COMPANY Washington, U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court AGE 62 ADDRESSwww.dcd.uscourts.gov BIO There is no jury in the landmark Microsoft antitrust trial, so it will be up to
Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to determine whether the software giant has abused
its monopoly on the desktop--and, if so, what to do about it.
Microsoft can't be too happy. The colorful judge gave almost daily reminders of
his impatience with Microsoft's What, me? defense during the trial's eight months
in court. Last April g.o.p. Senator Slade Gorton of Washington complained in
frustration, "You have a second- or third-rate judge ... I don't know how
optimistic I am about Microsoft winning at the district level."
Judge Jackson initially said he could run through the trial in six weeks, but his
leanings showed themselves when he allowed trustbusters to expand the case beyond
Netscape and the browser wars to look at Microsoft's muscle throughout the
computer industry. BEST LINE "Assume Microsoft is a monopoly--would [it] then be anti-competitive?"
FORWARD TILT Judge Jackson's decision, no matter what it is, will have huge
reverberations throughout the high-tech world and affect the economy in general.
But appeals will inevitably slow or stunt the blow that is almost certainly
expected.
