Gates Gets Slammed

Despite all of the breakup talk, the end result of the litigation may well be less extreme. Microsoft's lawyers are working hard to get Judge Jackson's decision reversed--and they'll fight fiercely against any structural remedies. Courts are usually reluctant to break up a company, and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, which would hear Microsoft's appeal, will be no exception. "I don't think Judge Jackson's opinion will emerge unscathed," says George Washington University law professor William Kovacic. "And if it's diminished in significant ways, the foundations on which to build a bold remedy begin to crumble."

In the meantime, Microsoft shows no sign that it is relaxing its public relations onslaught. After Gates left Washington, he showed up on TV, the star of his own feel-good ad campaign. "Twenty-five years ago, my friends and I started with nothing but an idea--that we could harness the power of the PC to improve people's lives," Gates says earnestly. The closest he comes to referring to Microsoft's legal difficulties is his send-off: "The best is yet to come."

It's a soft sell, but it would be a mistake to conclude that Gates has gone soft. Earlier this month--just a day after settlement talks between Justice and Microsoft fell apart--he reiterated his interest in bundling speech-recognition software into a future version of Windows. That could prove just as disastrous for IBM and Dragon Systems' competing voice-recognition software as the decision to bundle the Explorer Web browser was for Netscape. And it would give the Justice Department yet another argument for dismantling the Windows monopoly.

--With reporting by Jay Branegan and Viveca Novak/Washington