Judge hints at three-way split of software giant

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Thursday, May 25, 2000 | 11:11 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- Signaling a willingness to slice Microsoft Corp. into two pieces, perhaps even three, a federal judge ordered the Justice Department to revise its plan to break up the world's leading computer software maker and submit the new version by Friday.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson finished a daylong hearing Wednesday on possible remedies intended to address Microsoft's alleged antitrust violations by giving the Justice Department 48 hours to turn in the revised breakup proposal.

"This case has been pending for two years now," Jackson snapped as he rejected Microsoft's pleas for more time to hold further hearings and develop a defense against any breakup plan.

Attorneys for the company argued they were denied their right to due process.