21.   After four years of federal investigation, the Justice Department and Microsoft Corp. reached an antitrust settlement designed to end unfair, anticompetitive practices by the software giant.

22.   After the market closed, the software giant reported earnings for its fiscal first quarter that were well above consensus estimates.

23.   But even so, competitors like Gemstar appreciate that the software giant has made the move.

24.   But for judge who tried the case, now ready to bring down a heavy hammer on the software giant, it is a trial too far.

25.   But he has long been a defender of the Redmond, Wash., software giant.

26.   But in a move that stunned the technology industry, Judge Stanley Sporkin rejected the consent decree, criticizing the government for letting the software giant off the hook.

27.   But it is not known whether the appeals court will erode enough of his decision to justify overturning his order to split the software giant into two companies.

28.   But now, the Redmond, Wash., software giant has the online gaming industry quaking in its boots.

29.   But McNealy urged Bush not to pull the plug on case, in which the trial judge recommended that the software giant be split into two parts.

30.   But that danger to Microsoft has receded in the marketplace even as the software giant faces a major legal threat in federal court.