THE MICROSOFT CHRONICLES

By MICHAEL KRANTZ

It's official: Windows 98 is in play. Last week Federal Judge THOMAS PENFIELD JACKSON ordered Microsoft to stop forcing PC makers to include its Explorer Web browser on Windows 95 machines, at least until Harvard law professor LAWRENCE LESSIG completes a study of the company's business practices as they relate to federal antitrust law. A Lessig conclusion that Microsoft's plan to knit Explorer into the upcoming Windows 98 system violates antitrust statutes could mean the biggest antitrust battle since the Feds broke up Ma Bell in the 1980s. The stakes? Just the future of Windows; which is to say the PC; which is to say the Net; which is to say human civilization as we know it. Both Lessig's report and Win 98 are due next spring. But for now, lawyers and lobbyists, start your engines!

--By Michael Krantz