WASHINGTON (AP) -- Although determined to present a federal judge with a unified plan for punishing Microsoft, the states active in the antritrust case had some dissension over the proposed break-up of the software giant.
Seventeen states fully joined the Justice Department in seeking a split of Microsoft into rival companies. But attorneys general from Ohio and Illinois, who filed supporting statements accompanying the government plan, said they did not back an immediate change in the company's structure."A reorganization could be difficult to undo, and its effects would be difficult to predict," said Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery, who earlier this year expressed hesitation over such a remedy.
She said she agrees with the states and the Justice Department on many fronts -- including the charges that Microsoft broke the law and that steps need to be taken to restore balance in the software market.
But, she said, "reasonable minds certainly may differ about the steps proposed to achieve such a balance."
The two state AGs included in an appendix to the court filing an alternative proposal -- which would not impose any immediate changes in the company's structure, but give the judge three years to evaluate whether the company had make modifications in its behavior toward others in the technology industry.
If these conduct remedies did not work, then the judge could require the reorganization of the company, under their plan.
Officials from the 17 states downplayed any real differences in the position of the group and said they were confident they could still present a single and organized argument to U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson.
"It's a situation where the 19 states are very close together," said Iowa AG Tom Miller. He said the plan by the two other states "is very close to what we're asking for."
He added that the judge had been seeking an orderly presentation in court "and that's exactly what will happen."
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also stressed that the two other states don't differ over fundamental concepts or substance in the case. The judge will see this "as a variance but not a real difference," he said.
Miller, Blumenthal and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer all emphasized the unity that has developed between the states, particularly in the past few days to complete the proposal.
"What is so really extraordinary about the unity that we've achieved is that it involves these sovereign governments each with very different party backgrounds ... but all of them, except for perhaps a couple, (are) firmly united with the leadership of the Department of Justice," Blumenthal said on CNN.