Microsoft yesterday asked the court hearing its antitrust trial to reject a US government plan to divide the company in two, proposing restrictions on its business practices instead.

District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson had ordered Microsoft to submit its own plan after ruling on April 3rd that the company broke US competition law by abusing its monopoly in operating systems for personal computers.

Microsoft, which has insisted it followed the law and promised to appeal Judge Jackson's findings vigorously, said if the judge insisted on considering the breakup plan then further hearings should be held, starting in December.

The company said the trial had failed to find there would be greater competition for operating systems in the absence of Microsoft's conduct. "The government's adventurous request to split Microsoft into two companies should be rejected as a matter of law," Microsoft submitted to the judge.

On April 28th, the US Justice Department and 17 of the 19 states that brought the case called for Microsoft to be split into a personal computer operating systems business and a separate applications software firm that would have such assets as Microsoft Office and the Internet Explorer browser.

Microsoft released portions of its proposal, highlighting its rejection of the government proposal, but it did not immediately provide the details of its own proposed conduct remedy.

The trial began in October 1998 and may still have months to run even before the appeals process begins. Judge Jackson's current timetable calls for a government response by May 17th, followed by a hearing on May 24th, but Microsoft said it would need more time because the government had introduced new material supporting its argument for a break-up.