Microsoft scores points in court

Judge Jackson wants a speedy appeal

An attempt by US government lawyers to fast-track the appeals procedure in the Microsoft anti-trust trial and penalise the company swiftly has failed - for now.

The Court of Appeals refused a government request to stay out of the trial and agreed to hear Microsoft's plea that penalties imposed against the software maker should not be implemented while the appeals process is still going on.

The judges said they would stand aside only if the country's Supreme Court would take on the case directly.

Since Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled on 7 June that the company should be split up, both sides have sought to have the appeal heard before the court of their choice.

The Justice Department wants the appeal to be heard by the Supreme Court first, a move which will speed up the process. While this is unusual, it is a path sometimes adopted in major anti-trust cases.

Even if Judge Jackson recommends the case go to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court could reject it and recommend it is heard by the Court of Appeals first.

This would suit Microsoft, as the US appeals court has found in favour of Microsoft in previous cases. It also draws out the appeals process, potentially delaying an eventual split.

Bowing to the Supreme Court

The US government, however, had some consolation. The Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said it would suspend its proposed hearings into Microsoft's appeal if the Supreme Court would agree to hear the case.

Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan argued last week that the government was "obviously afraid of the Court of Appeals and that speaks volumes about their case".

Microsoft opens new Windows

The world's largest software maker, meanwhile, announced that it was ready to ship the latest consumer version of its Windows operating system.

Windows Millennium, or Windows Me, will go on sale on 14 September.

The software will replace Windows 98, but is not a consumer version of Microsoft's "Windows 2000".

Unlike this operating system for professional users, Windows Me will continue to be a shell sitting on top of the original MS-Dos software from the early 1980s.

New OS, same old price

Microsoft claims that the new operating system will recover more easily from system crashes.

The new software will include features to play digital music and video and set up home networks.

This is bound to raise fresh concerns in the US Justice Department, which says Microsoft's practice of bundling new products into Windows stifles competition and innovation.

In the United States Windows Me will be pre-installed on new computers or can be bought off-the-shelf for $209.

An upgrade from Windows 98 will cost $109.

On Thursday, Microsoft's co-founder and "chief software architect", Bill Gates, will unveil so-called "Next Generation Windows Services", software that will not come from a CD or floppy disk, but will be accessed over the internet.