Judge orders MS split in two

WASHINGTON: A US judge on Wednesday ordered the world's biggest software

company to be split in two in a final ruling aimed at preventing Microsoft Corp.

from committing further antitrust violations.

No breakup of the company is imminent. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield

Jackson has said the company would remain intact until the appeals process is

exhausted and Microsoft has vowed to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if

necessary.

If the judgment is upheld, it would be the harshest antitrust action taken

against a US corporation since AT&T agreed to spin off the "baby bell"

regional phone companies in 1982.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.