The US Justice Department briefed President Clinton's economic team yesterday on its proposals to break up Microsoft so as to promote competition in the software industry.
Mr Joel Klein, who heads the Justice Department's antitrust division, left after the meeting without talking to reporters.
Shortly before the session, Microsoft chief executive Mr Steve Ballmer said he was confident the software giant would eventually win its legal battle with the government and that the company would not be broken up.
White House officials planning to take part in yesterday's briefing cast the session as "strictly informational".
But they declined to rule out the possibility that they would state their own views on the case, which has consequences for high-technology stocks and large sectors of the US economy. President Clinton was not planning to participate in the briefing.
The US government and 19 states suing Microsoft have until Friday to propose remedies in the landmark antitrust trial. On Monday, a source familiar with the case said the Justice Department was likely to propose that the company be split into two elements, with one focusing on the Windows operating system and the other on applications.
Once the government files its proposals, Microsoft will reply on May 10th with its objections and its own proposed remedy. The government will file again on May 17th.
