The Final Judgement
The Final Judgement
Though Judge Jackson rejected
Microsoft’s proposals for both the Findings of Fact and the Conclusions of
Law, they were still asked to put together a proposed final judgment, which
Jackson would use with the DOJ’s proposal to aid in rendering his own final
judgment. For the proposed judgment, Microsoft was forced to assume that
everything in the Findings and Conclusions was accepted as truth, and come up
with remedies for the court to impose.
Microsoft filed their proposal on May
10, 2000, along with their objections to the government’s plan, which included
not only breakup, but also the release of the source codes for Windows.
Microsoft’s plan paid more attention to their intellectual property rights,
protected their copyrights, and shied from structural remedies, in favor of
behavioral ones. Among them were restrictions to Microsoft’s ability to cancel
the licenses of computer manufacturers and place conditions on the release of
Microsoft software for other platforms. It also protected computer
manufacturer’s access to the Windows desktop (assuming they do not interfere
with the portion of it the Microsoft has reserved for their content) and forced
Microsoft to release technical details in the form of API functions, not source
code, indiscriminately to all developers, be they direct Microsoft competitors
or not. Microsoft would also agree to continue producing precedent versions of
Windows for two years after the release of a new version, and would agree to
allow government monitoring to ensure compliance with the court order and pay
all the attorney fees of the states that were involved in the suit. The
agreement would only last four years.