Microsoft told to split in two

The judge in the Microsoft antitrust trial has issued his final ruling - the software giant will be split in two, creating an applications company and an operating systems vendor.

The company has been given four months to draw up plans for the split, but a number of immediate restrictions to its business practices have already been imposed.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates attacked the decision as "unreasonable" and "contradictory", and the company said it would immediately ask for a stay of execution while it attempts to appeal.

Until the break-up plans have been approved, the judge has told Microsoft to maintain all products and keep its current business structure to prevent it from making changes that would complicate the separation process. As a result, consumers should notice very little difference, in the short term at least.

The ruling follows a mammoth action brought by the US Department of Justice and 19 US states which charged Microsoft with abusing its industry position to sell more copies of its Internet Explorer browser. Microsoft was eventually found guilty of being a monopoly and violating antitrust laws.

But the company isn't taking the ruling lying down and it could take months or even years before the whole issue is finally brought to a conclusion.

However, industry experts are already predicting that price rises could be on the cards. According to Zona Research "a company that produces integrated operating systems and applications has an easier time developing and marketing inexpensive products due to the financial leverage that brings".

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