A long-awaited ruling has finally been handed down in the antitrust case against the Microsoft Corporation that could have an impact on how consumers buy and use computers.

U.S. district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly upheld a settlement that suggests Microsoft violated antitrust laws by illegally strong-arming competition out of the world of computer software.

The settlement will force Bill Gates’s gigantic corporation to transform its way of doing business.

Among the new changes will be the required release of some of the company’s technical data so other software developers can write programs for Windows that will be up to par with what Microsoft produces itself.

Kollar-Kotelly said she hopes this will create a much more diversified and competitive market in computing.

Brian Rust, communications manager for the University of Wisconsin’s Division of Information Technology, said it is hard to tell exactly how this ruling will affect consumers.

But he said here on campus, DoIT will soon renegotiate a contract it made with Microsoft to officially license its products.

He said when the university entered into the contract three years ago, Windows was virtually the only choice that DoIT had.

Technological competition from other operating systems such as WordPerfect was not strong enough at the time to make it a viable option, Rust said.

“We’ve always tried to license the products that are the most popular,” Rust said. “But, have these products been the most popular because there is no competition or are they the best products? Who knows?”

Rust said that when DoIT entered the contract, however, what little competition there was at the time actually allowed the university to get a reasonably good deal.

He said that competition has all but disappeared since then.

Rust said he hopes the latest decision will change the market so the university can again get a good deal, but it is hard to say how things will actually pan out.

Peter C. Carstensen, the Young-Bascom Professor of Law at UW, said that he is also skeptical of how this ruling will actually affect the computer industry.

He said that he is glad that Microsoft will have to change its ways, but that he is unconvinced whether or not the ruling really gets to the core of the problem. He thinks that with the rapid rate at which technology advances this ruling might already be out of date.

“[Kollar-Kotelly] is looking back to remedy the problems of the mid ’90s, not the mid 2000’s,” Carstensen said. “That’s a real problem.”

Carstensen said he thinks that Microsoft’s technological power in the future will more than likely still dwarf most of the other software developers. He said with the current way the Windows system works it is almost impossible for outside competition.

He said that the way the programs are written do not allow for other companies to have much of a chance.

Whether or not this ruling has gone far enough is hard to say.

But, with the possibility of more appeals from Microsoft, Rust thinks that it could be a long time before any final conclusion is reached.

“There is just no way of knowing when this thing will end,” Rust said. “Microsoft has a lot of legal resources, so it’s a question of whether or not they’re willing to use them.”

Carstensen, on the other hand, thinks that it is a possibility Microsoft will throw in the towel at this point. He said if the Supreme Court was willing to hear the case it could go that far, but he does not think that is very likely.

Carstensen said he thinks Microsoft got away with very little punishment and it might be foolish for them to pursue the case any further.

“[Microsoft] is getting away with what’s at best a slap on the wrist,” Carstensen said.