11.   First, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is under no obligation to accept the proposed remedy.

12.   He attempted to demonstrate that the proposed remedy was a workable and reasonable way to restore competition to a market that had been monopolized by Microsoft.

13.   He added that the company had not been given a fair chance to argue against the proposed remedies and that prosecutors had not presented sufficient evidence to support it.

14.   If their proposed remedy was extreme, they argued, their diagnosis of the problem was no less so.

15.   In court Wednesday, Microsoft lawyers declined to discuss their proposed remedies, focusing instead on arguing against a breakup.

16.   Judges wondered publicly whether the proposed remedy -- breaking up the company -- went too far.

17.   Many in the industry, including the directing and acting labor unions, have backed several proposed legislative remedies to runaway production.

18.   Microsoft, which may ask for more time for its response, is expected to seek full-fledged, evidentiary hearings on the proposed remedy.

19.   Nonetheless, it threw out his proposed remedy.

20.   One proposed remedy for financial imbalance is partial privatization, the approach favored by Bush.