Punishment phase for Microsoft in making with the new judge

Whether Windows XP is released to the public in its present form on October 25 is a decision that will be largely up to US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly who was appointed as the new judge in the government's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. It will be Kollar-Kotelly's job to determine what measures are appropriate to punish Microsoft for its anti-competitive behavior.

Kollar-Kotelly is a judge with a reputation as a meticulous but slow moving jurist. Kollar-Kotelly's relatively short career does not involve antitrust cases and her expertise lies in the area of criminal law. In a case that received international attention, she ruled that Iran had to pay $ 355 million to relatives of a US Marine who was kidnapped and killed in Lebanon by a group financed directly by Iran's government.

In a sign that could spell trouble for Microsoft, in two significant cases Kollar-Kotelly sided with consumers. One case involved a decision against the powerful banking industry and in another case she ruled in favor of a company that was making a generic version of a cancer drug.

But the judge also has received criticism for being slow in rendering decisions. In a fast-moving industry such as computers, and a case as complicated as the Microsoft antitrust lawsuit, a slow approach could easily wreck havoc on the case. If she granted an injunction against Windows XP, it could paralyze Microsoft and its product development. One the other hand, Windows XP could easily be history by the time she concludes the case, which would hurt the government's case and the companies that are at risk of being competed out of business by the inclusion of competing applications in Windows XP.

Kollar-Kotelly is taking over from Thomas Penfield Jackson who found Microsoft guilty of antitrust violations and ordered the company split in two. But the Appeals Court, in June, set aside Jackson's break-up and other punishment rulings saying Jackson had not given Microsoft
sufficient opportunity to argue against the break-up. They also removed Jackson from the case because Jackson talked to the media about the case. But the court upheld most of Jackson's key findings against the company, including that it operates an illegal monopoly.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is feverishly trying to get Windows XP out into the market before the new Judge has a chance to force the company to make changes to the program. This week, Microsoft started shipping Windows XP to computer manufacturers and is reportedly pushing computer makers to start shipping computers with Windows XP ahead of the October 25 launch date.

Once released in the market it will be very difficult for the courts to halt Windows XP. But it is widely expected that the government will quickly move to ask for an injunction against the software.

To make the release as dramatic as possible, five major computer manufacturers picked up their master copies of Windows XP during a ceremony at Microsoft's headquarters. The promptly left aboard a helicopter bound for five private jets that flew the executives and master copies straight back to their manufacturing plants.

(SVNS)