U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, the presiding judge in the Microsoft antitrust case, has ordered that the company be split into two separate companies. In his ruling, Jackson said “Microsoft as it is presently organized and led is unwilling to accept the notion that it broke the law or accede to an order amending its conduct.”

Symantec Corp. announced it has developed an anti-viral software package that works on the Palm OS.

Sony has announced it will unveil its handheld device using the Palm OS at PC Expo. The company did not reveal details about price or feature specifications. PC Expo runs from June 27 to 29 in New York.

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 7, 2000, Handspring will go public the week of June 19. They will begin by offering 10 million shares priced between $17 and $19 per share.

In other legal news, the Xerox patent suit against 3Com has been dismissed. The lawsuit had contended 3Com violated patent regulations when it developed the handwriting recognition system for the Palm organizer. Xerox claimed it had invented the Unistroke software that recognizes one-stroke motions as characters. U.S. District Judge Michael A. Telesca granted 3Com’s dismissal motion, saying there was “no genuine issue as to any material fact.”

Microsoft President Steve Ballmer, meanwhile, has responded to the U.S. court ruling by claiming it was based on legal and factual errors and was inconsistent with a previous court ruling. Speaking at a press conference in the Netherlands, Ballmer said Judge Jackson ignored a two-year old appellate court ruling that found Microsoft did not act illegally in incorporating its Internet browser into its Windows 95 operating system.

Here is Bill Gates’ official response to the ruling in full.

Microsoft has responded by saying it plans to file its notice of appeal and motion to stay the order by the U.S. District Court. “This is the beginning of a new chapter in this lawsuit,” said Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect. “We have a very strong case on appeal, and we look forward to resolving these issues through the appeals process and putting this case behind us once and for all.”

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, the presiding judge in the Microsoft antitrust case, has ordered that the company be split into two separate companies. In his ruling, Jackson said “Microsoft as it is presently organized and led is unwilling to accept the notion that it broke the law or accede to an order amending its conduct.”

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that there’s a new virus on the loose and it’s aimed at handheld devices. The article says that the virus is similar to the Love Letter virus and was written to target phones on the Telefonica cellular network. The virus called Timofonica is spread as an email attachment.